Elephant Grey

We were joking calling me a “chic monk” in my flowy greyscale outfit while we were shooting some sunrises ago – what can I say, I like to drift around comfortably. Though while looking through some digi & film selects from M, I started listening to Elephant and realized that in everything I do and with everything I wear, I try to be like baby elephants.  No, not just in lovely greys…

Mostly in a dichotomous way of being at once strong yet gentle; I think I’ll add this to my list for 2015.  Similarly, I’d like to meet a baby elephant someday.

| hat @ rag + bone | silk blouse @ everlane | culottes @ zara (tailored; similar) | platforms @ miu miu (others) |

edgeofthecitybackview  swirls

This is one of my favorite shots of this old Volvo that M captured while I was of course standing in the middle of the street!IMG_0054

tkflare

hydrantmonk   deetsgoozebumps

superhaze

  hatdrop

lightpeeps

and the rap video shot… lol rapvideo

photography: Mitch Blummer

xo, Huckleberry Kim

Easy Gluten-Free Spaghetti and Meatballs

Gluten-free Spaghetti & Meatballs

There’s nothing like a home-cooked meal after a long day at work; and to be honest, sometimes, nothing will do the trick like a big bowl of spaghetti and meatballs with your favorite glass of wine.  I didn’t grow up with an Italian nonna teaching me how to make this meatball-magic happen, so I decided to experiment with my own recipe.  Please note, the following recipe is an attempt to optimize for:

| 1. prep time | 2. cook time | 3. taste satisfaction/time spent |

Spaghetti and Meatballs (Approx. prep to eat time 45 minutes)

STEP ONE: PREP YOUR INGREDIENTS
| grass fed ground beef | onions | baby crimini mushrooms | breadcrumbs | bay leaves | garlic | crushed tomatoes |
INGREDIENTS

STEP TWO: MAKE SOME MEATBALLS

| Combine the ground beef (~ 2 lbs), breadcrumbs (~ 2 cups), about half a bunch of parsley (chopped), shredded parmesan (~ 0.5 cup), some salt and pepper |  Form into balls |
RAWMEATBALLS

STEP THREE: COOK THOSE MEATBALLS

| In a large pot, start cooking your meatballs until they’re browned all around; this will help them keep their shape in your sauce |
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STEP FOUR: START THE SAUCE

| Add your onions, garlic, and mushrooms to the pot with your meatballs and let those aromatics soften up |
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STEP FIVE: ADD CRUSHED TOMATOES

| Add ~56 oz. of crushed tomatoes |
CRUSHEDTOMATOES

STEP SIX: COMBINE EVERYTHING AND LET THAT SIMMER FOR A WHILE

| Throw in about 5 – 6 bay leaves and let that simmer (make your pasta in the meantime) |
BAYLEAVES

ENJOY!
| Cook some of your favorite pasta, I used a corn & rice based gluten free spaghetti here; top with some chopped parsley and grated parmesan. Eat. |
SPAGHETTIANDMEATBALLS

After having released this spaghetti and meatball iteration to about 4 users (total), it has been deemed a statistically significant success. [i need to go on vacation].

xo, Huckleberry Kim

(New) Tradition: Non-traditional Holiday Dinner, Part 1 – Momofuku Inspired Pork Belly Buns

For as long as I can remember, I have spent December holiday time with my entire (extended) family, which includes 7 aunts/uncles, all of their children, and the grandparents – it’s a lot of people.   The holidays have always been a secular occasion for us – a nice time of year to spend time together, share love, laughter, food, stories, and gifts – though because of this, I had not been as exposed to many of the religious traditions that are the pinnacles of big December holidays (e.g. of Christmas or Hanukkah) around the world. 

The only “tradition” my family has kept in the last years has been: hilarious.  Each of the grandchildren (which ranges from me and my older brother – both in our mid-twenties- down through just under 20 cousins total, ranging from age 1 to 17) – having to display some sort of talent/entertaining performance for our grandparents (all aunts/uncles watching, naturally) before gifts are opened.  Will share more on this later… I digress.

Anyhow, this year, having the holidays with just our nuclear family – my parents, my brother and me – I wanted to start a new tradition.  And as my epically contrarian self, I determined that our holiday dinner “tradition” should be to always have a super non-traditional holiday dinner! Ha! Eat that, Santa.  So having spent most of my 2014 eating super dank food between the east and west coasts, I was feeling confident, and I decided to take on the task of preparing our first non-traditional holiday dinner tradition.  

The first course was inspired by David Chang @ Momofuku – I’m so predictable, right?  Between eating way too much ramen and too many pork buns at Momofuku and having my passion for cooking reignited by watching The Mind of a Chef on PBS, it was inevitable, and I was determined to make David Chang’s infamous pork buns for my family.  

I think they turned out okay: 

Roasted Pork Belly on Steamed Buns  (Inspired by Momofuku)

> Prep the pork belly!

>> Take about 3 pounds of pork belly (remove the skin), mix a bowl of about half of a cup of kosher salt and sugar and coat your pork belly

> Cover it and let that hang out for 6 – 10 hours

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> Meanwhile…start your steamed bun dough!

>> Mix a packet of active dry yeast, 1.5 cups of water, 4.25 cups of bread flour (my mom suggests that next time I should try self-rising flour as that’s what she usually uses to make traditional Vietnamese steamed “bánh bao”), 6 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/3 cup of bacon/pork fat (i made some scrumptious bacon for breakfast and reserved the fat to use in my dough!) 

>> Mix that until it’s all combined for about 10 minutes then gather into a ball.

> Let that sit and rise in an oiled bowl for 1-2 hours!

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> After about 6-10 hours, there should be some liquid that has accumulated in your roasting pan with your pork belly – pour all of that out.  Preheat your oven to about 450F and cook for about 45 minutes; flipping it over once in between.  Then turn your oven down to about 250F and cook until the pork belly is well browned and tender.

> Finish up your bread!  Cut up your dough ball into about 20 even pieces and roll them into balls.

>> Roll each mini ball out into small ovals (I usually just use a wine bottle to roll out my dough – works well if you can’t find your rolling pin!)

>> Place your rolled dough on small pieces of cut parchment paper

>> Brush each piece of rolled dough with a bit of vegetable oil, lay a chopstick across the center and fold the dough over onto itself making a wee little bun!

>> Steam your buns for about 10 minutes per batch.

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> Start your flash pickled cucumbers!

>> Take 5 persian cucumbers and run them over a mandolin or slice super thin (if you’re good at that).

>> Add about 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of kosher salt, 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar, and some coarse ground pepper.

>> Toss well and let that sit in the refrigerator until you’re ready to assemble your buns!

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> When everything’s ready to go – assemble your buns!

>> Cut your pork belly into 1/4 inch thick slices, open a bun, spread about 1.5 tablespoons of hoisin sauce, about 1 tablespoon of Sriracha sauce, throw on some of your flash pickled cucumbers and some curled scallions and ENJOY!!

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Happy Holidays!

xo, Huckleberry Kim

Fall for Everything: Transitional Layering

Transitional Autumnal Layers

I love the summertime.  It’s so fun, carefree, romantic, and warm (clearly); after all, people get so into it that they write songs about summertime emotions that they feel.  But we’re moving on, year; aren’t we?  Don’t get stuck.  Don’t get left behind.

There are merits to autumn as well – one of my favorites is transitional layering…and hats. See below.

 | Goorin Bros. hat Everlane silk & shortsleeve sweat shirt | Zadig & Voltaire sequin shorts (similar) | Céline Phantom tote |

Photography: Samuel

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sweet potato crust pizza with squash blossoms, figs & goat cheese

Sweet Potato Crust Pizza

Lately, I’ve been all about the chia seeds.  Perhaps it’s all in my head, but they keep me full and pumped with energy – rather than my 2 usual consumption cases of 1) not having time to eat at all or 2) eating all of the pizza.  It was Monday night, I did not have any #weekendtk plans, so I got some sweet potatoes and wanted to make a guilt-free pizza!  Here’s how it went:

  1. Peel and chop up 3 small – medium sized sweet potatoes and add them to a pot of boiling water with:
    • half a teaspoon of coarse sea salt,
    • half a teaspoon of cayenne (if you’re a spicy chef comme moi),
    • half a teaspoon of ginger (I used ginger powder, next time I might try freshly ground).
  2. In a separate pan, heat up a tablespoon of olive oil and throw in 4-ish cloves of coarsely chopped garlic. Cook for 2 minutes.
  3. Add in your prepared squash blossoms (2-3 cups; they cook down a lot) and cook for an additional 3 minutes
    • How to prepare squash blossoms, you ask?:
      • Cut off the ends
      • Strip stalks of epidermis (OMG, I’m such a nerd, but honestly, what else do you call it?)
      • Wash thoroughly
      • Dry
  4. Set aside your squash blossoms
  5. Once your sweet potatoes are soft enough to easily pierce with a knife or fork, drain the water and add in about one third of your cooked squash blossoms
  6. Mash that mixture up really well (I actually used my hand blender – thanks MKB!)
  7. Add:
    • three quarters of a cup of almond flour,
    • one quarter of a cup of chia seeds,
    • one teaspoon of baking soda,
    • and half a teaspoon of coarse sea salt to your mash.
  8. Knead that. Knead it like you mean it.
  9. Press the dough into your lightly olive-oiled baking pan in whatever shape you want to make your pizza (it should be about 1/3 to 1/2 and inch thick)
  10. Bake that at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes or until the edges look slightly browned and happy.
  11. Take that out of the oven and add your remaining squash blossoms to the top – bake for an additional 7ish minutes.
  12. Top with figs and chèvre and broil for an additional 3 – 5 minutes.
  13. Eat.

Bon appétit!

Huckleberry Kim

UNI ZOODLES

Uni Ikura Zoodles

A group of my work pals have been on a very inspiring #healthyliving kick lately; we’ve been encouraging each other with workouts and clean eats.  Everyone got Spiralizers, and I hopped on the bandwagon.  The following are the steps for my easy first zoodle meal (zoodle = zucchini noodle).  It literally takes 15 minutes to prepare.  I’m also a wizard.

  • Spiralize 1 zucchini (honestly, I wanted to do this recipe with a sweet potato, but couldn’t be bothered to look that hard for sweet potatoes at the grocery store. next time.)
  • In a medium-sized pan, sautée 3 cloves of coarsely chopped garlic in 1 tbsp of olive oil.
  • Add a handful of enoki mushrooms (after having chopped off the ends, washed, and loosely separated them).
  • MIX IT UP (for like 45 seconds).
  • Combine 3 tbsps of seaweed flakes with 1 tsp of roasted seasame seeds and 1/2 tsp of wasabi powder (+/- to taste).
  • Add salt and pepper to taste.
  • Throw in your zoodles and cook for an additional 90 seconds or to desired zoodle-texture.
  • Top with fresh sea urchin and garnish with fresh salmon roe.
    • It looks very pretty plated with the sea-friends on top, though next time I think I’ll blend up the sea urchin and spices and toss with the ikura to get better zoodle-coverage…I mean who am I trying to impress anyway, right?

Bon Appétit!

xx, Huckleberry Kim

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more spiralizers:

Living on the Edge: in Brooklyn (with Teenage Boys)

Huck in Brooklyn

Perhaps you didn’t hear, but it was sort of a big deal when I moved to Brooklyn (practically had to beg de Blasio not to throw a parade about it) {*Side note, remind me to tell you more about my first NYC parade experience… which of course was the peak of the 2014 Dominican Day Parade when I was just trying to meet a friend, Shari, for brunch [for reference, here’s some tame documentation of the D.D.P] Blaring music, prom dresses, fist pumping, closed streets, you get it – I have never felt like more of a lamb in all my life. I digress..

mobile shot by kelly d at brooklyn desks;

{ wearing tank by Theory (similar), bag by Dooney & Bourke, and Current/Elliott jeans (similar), summer ale by Brooklyn Brewery }

Williamsburg has been good to me.  I was instantly swooning the first moment we met.  It was at a coffee shop called Pudge Knuckles; the Americanos were hot, the Atlantic breeze was cool, and Danny’s Song was playing (not kidding you).   The vibes in Brooklyn remind me more of home back on the west coast (you know where I’d left my heart, sat on docks of the bay, and wore flowers in my hair).  Don’t get me wrong, Manhattan is fantastic; he evokes that GSD-drive, is super intelligent, and is a fun fellow to hang out with. He’s just not what I’m looking for in a neighborhood at this point in my life; I mean, let’s be real: there’s probably a point on most Saturdays where he suggests doing multiple shots of Patrón.  

Brooklyn’s a borough I could see myself actually have a real relationship with (with, not in; don’t. get. any. ideas.).  He knows how to ride a bike but isn’t pretentious about it, always picks a place with a good selection of whiskey, can teach me something beautiful regularly, is never too aggressive and always open to suggestions.  Granted the L train is my hell train – so deeply imbued with ironic tattoos, brown beards, pink hair, and the greenest condescension – it wouldn’t be so terrible if there was a little more courtesy and a little less sweat, but I figure you can’t love everything about everyone anyway.

Living on the edge:

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I came to New York a few months ago with a couple of bags, my guitar, and an optimistic pessimism that nothing can be as bad as it had been before.  AirBnB has perpetuated my transient, #livingontheedge, lifestyle for some time now (thanks Nathan, Brian and Joe – expect a call from my mother).  And since I’ve always been an exceptionally adaptable lady, moving around and meeting new people in new ‘hoods has been OK.

The last place I stayed at was a converted store front artists’ collective from which I was subletting a room from a sweet gal.  It was a last minute move, so I’ll admit that I likely didn’t ask all of the questions I should’ve asked.  Like, how many other people are living in the place?  Are there any pets?  How many bathrooms are there?  I didn’t ask, she didn’t tell, but oh by golly did I find out!

There were a lot of roommates – including at least 5 teenage boys, 1 sweet puppy, and 2 pet rats belonging to one of those aforementioned boys.  Disclaimer: it’s unlikely that any of them were actually teenage boys between the ages of 13 – 19; though they fell into the bucket when for the 10th time I walked by in common space, conversations would stop and eyes would gaze upon me as if first sighting Tink in the Lost Boys basecamp.

There was 1 full bathroom.  There were no windows. Oh, by the way, did I ever mention that rats are perhaps my biggest fear ever?  Aren’t there enough of those things in this city already?

Some might’ve left straight away (or at least after seeing the caged-rats), holed-up at the nearest hotel-tonight and looked again in the morning.  Some (maybe even my 19-year-old-self) would have shrugged, made some drinks and not given any of it a thought like a teenager whose parents were in Maui for the week.

I adapted. There weren’t any windows, but I had 2 lights!  Sure, there were pet-rats, but the sweet puppy reminded me of the puppies-from-years-passed that I missed so much.  No A/C, no problem – my crop tops have never gotten so much time on the field!  Teenage boys are some of the most awkward things in the world, but I wouldn’t be who I am today if I didn’t grow from and learn to appreciate their wonder at some point in life (see following):

I guess my point here is: figure it out.  I only have 2 pairs of shoes with me right now – TWO.  Stop complaining and call your mothers more often.

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Situational Snaps:

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Well, glad that’s over.

xx, Huckleberry Kim