Living in Langley - Notes from an Island

Wild About Books

2012-01-25T22:47:00.000-08:00

Earlier in 2011 we found out we were going to be grandparents. Of course I had to plan a baby shower for the mom-to-be, and of course it had to be book-themed. One of my cousins had given my younger sister a book shower when Jan was pregnant, and it was the best, most fun baby shower I've ever been to.

I love books, love to read, have an extensive children's book collection myself started when I was a child and continued to this day, and reading to our own children was one of my favorite activities to do with the kids. I've spent hundreds, if not thousands, of hours reading to our children and have always looked forward to the day when I would read to a grandchild.

Our mom-to-be, Justine, had decided to decorate the baby's room in a safari theme, so I felt that would be a great theme for the shower. There just happens to be a children's book called Wild About Books, and a theme was born!

Safari stuff was in all the stores last year, so I slowly gathered things to use as decor at the shower, knowing that afterwards I could send it all home with Justine for the baby's nursery. Over the course of the year, I found myself in California, Oregon, and throughout Washington, and believe me when I say no baby store went unexplored for safari-themed items!

I had a blast doing the invites. Invitations are one of my favorite parts of party planning. It's usually early enough in the process that you have lots of time to think about what you want to do, look for papers and embellishments, etc., without feeling frazzled and out of time!

It was also my first time using Zazzle for custom-made stamps, and the few dollars extra it cost me was well worth it in terms of how delighted I was with the results! I'm sure there were people who didn't even notice them, but I thought they were the most fun ever.

Of course I had my menu going early on and tweaked it as time went by. For this party I was guided by the book theme. I wanted each food item to correspond to a children's book. It was surprisingly easy to find books to go with the foods I wanted. Once I decided to serve olives, I just googled "children's book about olives," and voila, there it was!

Although I ended up not using it when I ran out of time the day of the party, I even found a book about beets - Edgar, Allen, and Poe and the Tell-Tale Beets. I didn't buy the book, but it looks like it's actually quite entertaining, and I plan to get it one of these days.

I downloaded photos of all the books that went with my menu, photocopied two copies of each book, glued them onto skewers of varying heights, and stuck them into pieces of See's Candy. After the party, I saved the little signs and got to eat the See's. Decorations you can eat after the party - does it get any better than that?

Here is the final menu, along with the corresponding children's book:

In the kitchen I served Blueberry Lemonade (Blueberries for Sal).

On the dining room buffet table:

Applesauce meatballs - Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Crudite platter - The Vegetable Alphabet Book
Turkey wraps (purchased at Costco) - The Tortilla Factory
Hot artichoke dip served with sliced baguettes - Monsieur Saguette and His Baguette
Rosemary nuts and Thyme nuts - Nuts to You
Egg salad tea sandwiches - Sheep Out to Eat
Fancy grilled cheese sandwiches (made with peaches, fig jam, and La Tur Cheese - these were the surprise hit of the party foodwise) - Grilled Cheese, Please!
Assorted cheese platter - Heidi
ABT dip with Scoop Corn Chips - Don't Forget the Bacon
Peanuts in their shells - Peanut
Plum pork with plum dipping sauce - The Three Little Pigs
Marinated olives - I Have an Olive Tree

And in honor of my son, Jesse, the baby's father and a big pizza lover:
Pizza breads (from Sanitary Bakery in California, frozen, and driven home to Washington on dry ice) - Pete's a Pizza

On the dessert buffet:
Chocolate chip cookies and frosted brownies - If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
See's Candy - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Strawberries with Kaluha dip - The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear
Raspberries and blackberries over goat cheese and honey - Jamberry

See's typically will give you "It's a Boy" or "It's a Girl" stickers when you buy chocolate cigars or their suckers to hand out. I asked for a roll of the "It's a Boy" stickers when I bought the candy. I removed the candy from their paper wrappers, stuck a sticker onto each wrapper, and replaced the candy. So when a guest picked up a candy to eat, the sticker was revealed. A very small gesture, but one which thrilled the guests - they love the little touches!

Of course one does not take on a party of this magnitude without a little bit of help. I was fortunate to have two very good friends pitch in to help out with much of the last-minute detail. My friend Barb flew in from Montana for the shower, and my friend Shelley whom I can always count on to help with anything I do came over early the day of the shower. And the first few guests who arrived got put right to work as well!

The very talented and creative Eve placing orchids onto food platters.

Shelley and Barb slaving in the kitchen.

I wish I could take the credit for arranging this amazing crudite platter, but I have to confess: Barb did it. The colorful carrots are from a local farm; so are the baby boiled potatoes. The cherry tomatoes were from Pike Market in Seattle and stuffed with mayo, bacon, and green onions, a recipe from the Palo Alto Junior League Cookbook, one of my most favorite cookbooks ever.

The food was yummy...

...the company divine.

We lined the gravel roads leading up to our house with fun balloons...

...and this little guy welcomed guests at our front gate.

The nice things about baby showers is that you have nine months to plan! I decided to learn how to make tissue paper flowers. Of course I didn't want them to be just one color. I experimented with shades of blue, other colors I was using in the party decor, and some fun animal print tissue paper I found. Some of it worked better than others, but I used them all. We have bay windows in the dining room and the living room, and I hung the flowers in the push-outs of those windows.

We have a little pine tree that I leave up year round and decorate seasonally and for parties. I got photos of Justine and Jesse and hung them on the tree. I asked Justine for photos of her as a child. For each photo she gave me, I was amazed to be able to find one of Jesse at the same age in almost the exact pose.

For one of the party favors for guests to take home, I made up bookmarks that I tied with ribbon and hung onto some lighted branches I have. There were six designs, each design with a different picture and a different quote, and guests got to choose which to take home. Justine got one of each, plus all the left-overs. Hayden is set with bookmarks for life!

I also had bookplates made up with Hayden's name. I asked the guests to fill them out and place them in the books they brought for Hayden. I contemplated sending them out with the invitations but felt that if they were adhered to the book, then Justine wouldn't be able to return any duplicate books she received. She did end up receiving a couple duplicates and one triplicate, so it worked out well to save them and have them filled out at the shower.

I LOVE party favors. In addition to the bookmarks, each guest got a favor bag that contained a box of animal cookies, a sleeve of book darts, a votive decorated with animal print ribbon, and a See's sucker.

The mantle was decorated with stuffed animals - elephant, giraffe, lion, and a monkey - and silk flowers as well as fresh flowers. This photo was taken before I added in the fresh lowers at the last minute.

Of course no shower is complete without at least one game. We played "Alternative Titles." Guests were given 30 "alternative titles" and had to figure out the correct name of the children's book. Such as The Distributing Topiary (The Giving Tree), Excessively Wondering Jorge (Curious George), and Sweet Dreams, Lunar Orb (Goodnight Moon). One of Justine's friends, Savannah, won - with nearly 100% correct! This girl knows her books - very impressive!

I asked each guest to bring their favorite children's book as their gift to Justine and Hayden. As part of my gift, I also got her an antique rocking chair, an adorable safari-themed children's bookshelf, and a cute little safari lamp she had registered for. As guests arrived, we put their gifts on and around the bookshelf.

Justine actually sat on the opposite side of the room as she opened gifts and they got passed around for guests to oooh and aaaah over before being arranged by party-helper extraordinaire, Barb, on the bookshelf.

I think someone needs her own book shower!

As Justine opened the gifts, the giver told us why they had chosen the book or books she brought. It was so much fun to hear everyone's stories. Justine was really touched to receive Wynken, Blynken and Nod from my mom (who was not there). I told Justine that Eugene Fields is one of my mom's favorite poets. Unbeknownst to my mom, and to me, Justine loves this poem and even sang the lullaby as part of her high school senior class project. My mom often gives this book as a baby gift. It's a fairly unusual book and quite hard to find. So how odd that this is the book Justine got in triplicate!!!

Justine's mom Shari, Hayden's other grandma, got her own little book, Grandma's Brag Book for baby photos.

So many fun books and adorable baby gifts awaiting Hayden's arrival...

...and is she not the sweetest, most beautiful Baby Mama ever?!?!

Post Script - On October 6, 2011, Hayden Alexander was born.

He's just the most precious, most scrumptious grandson ever, and Gigi (Grandma Gwen) has already started reading to him.

2011 ANNUAL CHRISTMAS UPDATE

2011-12-23T22:54:00.000-08:00

2011 BRASS FAMILY ANNUAL UPDATE

So when we left off last year, Jim was very poor and Gwen was stylishly on bed rest. Jeff was in Walla Walla, Tim had a nice tan, and Jesse was – well, Jesse was busy being Jesse.

We postponed our Christmas so that Jeff and Danielle could join us. They arrived on Tuesday night and we pretended it was Christmas Eve. On Wednesday we awoke to snow so we truly did have a white Christmas. I highly recommend postponing the holiday until it's convenient for you. Not only do you get another chance at a white holiday, but there is loads more time for decorating, baking, shopping (and you can take advantage of post Christmas sales if you want to brave the crowds), and you have all that extra time for procrastinating. It worked out just great for us, so I've declared a new holiday, Brassmas, where you just celebrate whenever you darn well feel like it or get a round tuit.

I started off the new year with a trip to the cardiologist where I was declared heart-healthy. Tests showed that I had not had a heart attack and the 'damaged' spot in my heart had healed completely after the angioplasty. I'm on an impressive array of meds. It was a sad day when I realized I was taking more pills each day than my mother. And an even sadder day when I realized my memory was so far gone that I couldn't remember from one moment to the next what I was doing and had to resort to one of those little pill cases with the slots for each day. I hit rock bottom on a trip to visit my mom and found she had a shirt almost identical to one of mine. And hers was cuter.

We were only a few weeks into the new year when I slipped and fell down our stairs. I managed to bruise myself from head to toe inside and out (taking blood thinners makes for some spectacular bruising) and twisted my knee. This injury allowed me to lie in bed watching tv for several days and further postpone taking down the Christmas decorations. I gave some thought to just leaving them up all year but in the end started taking them down the last weekend in January. I managed to drag this out til the end of March, when I decided to get it done so I could put up Easter decorations. Except for the one tree upstairs which didn't get taken down til September when we had overnight company coming and I was embarrassed for them to see that tree.

In the meantime, I had not even recovered from the twisted knee before being given the news that Jim and I were going to be grandparents. Yes, 2011 was getting off to an exciting start!

Jeff and Danielle spent the year in Walla Walla. Danielle received her Master's in Sociology in August and went back home to Hawaii. Jeff stayed in Walla Walla to work a couple months more, which turned into him deciding to stay there a while. He lives with a bunch of people he works with and enjoys both his friends and his work. He came home for a visit in early November with his head shaved. This is the first time since he was two years old that he has had short hair. Quite a shock!

Last known photo of Jeff with long hair.

Tim stayed down in Forest Grove for the summer and worked on campus in their Convention Services department, which was a job that Jeff had done when he was there. During training, they learned how to make beds properly. They were given a photo on how not to make beds and as it was passed around, Tim was informed, "This is one of your brother's beds." I'm sure Tim's beds were meticulous and now they have "do" and "don't" photos from the Brass brothers. This is Tim's last year at Pacific. He's majoring in Business Accounting and really likes it. He works on campus during the school year building sets in the theater department.

Jesse finished up his freshman year at Washington State University and came home for the summer. He worked for a contractor helping with painting and minor construction. In September he transferred to Seattle Central Community College in order to be closer to home. He lives in a 6-bedroom house in the Beacon Hill area with 7 other males. It is surprisingly clean and it doesn't even smell bad. A lot of kids from his high school class attend the same college, and he's enjoying Seattle a lot. He just got a part-time job yesterday at a steakhouse, which I'm very excited about!

On Thursday, October 6, Jesse and Justine Coomes welcomed Hayden Alexander into their hearts. Hayden is adorable (which one would expect from a Brass baby) and so sweet; Justine is a wonderful mom; and Jesse had Hayden's hair combed into a mohawk within the first 24 hours. Jesse was a really good baby and very easy, and it looks like Hayden is following in dad's footsteps.

We all have to grow up sometime. (Except for me, of course.) Jesse has had maturity handed to him in the form of a sweet little 7 pound 14 ounce, 20 inch package and has taken to being a dad with surprising ease. There's definitely something to be said for young parents.

I finally got back to work court reporting this year (although it has been very slow going), and besides working in Washington, I took several trips down to the Bay Area and did some work for firms down there while visiting my family. After one trip, my friend and traveling companion ~~Thelma~~ Shelley flew down and drove back up with me. We stopped in Healdsburg on the way home and visited an old high school friend Linda and had a blast. I fell in love with Healdsburg and can't wait to go back. Then we drove up 101, had dinner at the Samoa Cookhouse (which did not quite live up to the memories I had of it), and ended up in Brookings, Oregon, where we spent the night at Sue's, another high school friend. We next headed to the cabin for a night and ended the trip in Walla Wallla where we went wine tasting and out to dinner with Jeff and Danielle. It was a great trip with lots of wine consumed and purchased.

On another of my trips to the Bay Area, my niece Sawyer and I cooked at a Big Green Egg Eggfest, Eggs by the Bay. We cooked up a number of things, but our hit of the day was definitely "You Had Me at Marshmallow," cedar-planked Twinkies topped with Nutella, crushed Oreos, mini marshmallows, and crushed Heath bars.

In September 5 friends came to visit me for an extended weekend. We were quite the international group. They came from France, Connecticut/New York, Ohio, Texas, and Australia. Only Catherine from France had been to Seattle before, so we played tourist a bit, consumed lots of wine, and lounged around our house having a great "girls' weekend." (Jim was banished to the cabin for the duration.) Notice the cute tablecloth I made for the occasion. We really did have a lot of laughs and a lot of fun.

When not palling around with friends, I've been a busy little worker bee. I've been doing some floral work for Farmhouse Flowers, a local florist here in Langley, which I really enjoy; and, of course, I continue to work at The Clyde on Tuesdays in the ticket booth and in the snack bar whenever Mindy goes on vacation. At the end of November I decided that 5 jobs weren't enough, so I started working for Greenbank Farm. I'm their facilities rental manager. Basically I handle all their rentals for events that are held on the property, including a lot of weddings, which should be a blast. Keeping track of 6 part-time jobs is a full-time job, so I'm pretty busy these days. But it's all fun and you know what they say – variety is the spice of life. As reporting picks up for me, I'll be dropping some of the other jobs. My goal is to get it narrowed down to court reporting, the movie theater, Greenbank Farm, and doing flowers.

Jim continues to enjoy his only (slacker) job at Evergreen Construction in Auburn. He works from home two days a week and commutes down to Auburn the other three. Sometimes Buddy goes to work with Jim if I'm not around. Everyone there loves Buddy, but Buddy is not overly fond of riding in the car and has figured out that if Jim gets up really early and I'm not around, then maybe he should go and hide from Jim in hopes of avoiding the car. So then Jim has to go in search and there is a lot of coaxing involved when he finally locates Buddy. On days I work at Farmhouse Flowers or at the bus barn for the school district, I take Buddy with me if Jim isn't working from home that day. Again, he's not thrilled to go, so he hides from me too. He's a funny pup. But we love him to pieces.

We're down to three chickens now, and they have quit laying eggs except for two piddling eggs we got in November. Which is really a drag because we (Jim) have to take care of them and feed them, all the while going to the store to buy eggs. It was so much fun just going to the coop to collect the eggs. I don't care for this new arrangement at all.

We had Jesse, Hayden, Justine, Tim, and our friends Robert and Shelley with us for Thanksgiving and had a great time eating turkey and consuming lots of wine. So much fun to have a baby in the house again! Baby smells are even better than turkey and gravy smells.

Yesterday I drove down to Oregon, picked up Tim, and brought him back for the holidays. Jesse came over from Seattle this afternoon. Jeff will come home on the 26th and we'll celebrate Brassmas. Jim and I will be celebrating our 25th anniversary on December 27, so it'll be a combined Brassmasversary. Hayden will be with us on the 25th and 26th when I hope to get more baby nuzzling time in.

Today is the 23rd and I haven't baked a single cookie or even put up a tree. We might venture outside to see if we can find something in the yard tomorrow. I went out there looking the other day and they all looked pretty spindly. I think that's because I hadn't had enough wine yet, so I'll get an early start on that tomorrow and see what I can come up with.

Happy Bralidays to all of you! We miss you and think of you often.

She's Not Mad at Me Spaghetti Carbonara

2011-12-23T19:35:00.000-08:00

My husband is a meat and potatoes kind of guy. The first time I served him pasta after we were married, he took one look at his dinner and said, "Are you mad at me? Did I do something wrong?"

For the most part, he'd prefer beef and mashed potatoes over just about any other meal. Taking their cue from their father, our sons weren't wild about pasta either, although occasionally the youngest would eat it plain. Imagine my surprise when I found a pasta dish they not only would eat, but eat with enthusiasm. I have no idea why this pasta dish was such a hit when all others failed; I was just so happy to have finally found something the picky boys would eat. And it's super easy to make too!

Spaghetti Carbonara

1 pound bacon
1 large onion, cut in half and thinly sliced
1/4 cup dry white wine
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tablespoons chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground peper to taste
1 pound spaghetti or other pasta
freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Fry the bacon, remove from pan and drain on paper towels. I cut it into pieces first, but you can fry it in strips or any way you like.

Look at all that bacony goodness!

Sautée sliced onions in bacon fat until onions are golden, 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. You can cook the bacon and onions in the same pan at the same time if you want, but you'll have less control over how much the onions cook because you'll need to stop when the bacon is done. So I like to do it in two steps. When the onions are to your liking, add the bacon back in, add the wine, and simmer for 15 or 20 minutes. Tonight, I was out of wine so I used tequila instead. Maybe I should call this Spaghetti Carbonara Olé! It's better with the wine. I really couldn't taste any tequila flavor. Darn!

Oh how I love the smell and taste of sautéed onions.

A side note on the onions: Did you know that if you breathe only through your mouth when you chop onions, it will usually keep your eyes from burning and watering?! It depends on the type of onions and how fresh they are, but it almost always works. Just be sure you don't breathe through your nose!

Okay, back to the recipe. But you're gonna thank me for that little tidbit, see if you don't.

Combine the 2/3 cup Parmesan cheese, parsley, salt and pepper in a small bowl.

Cook the pasta in salted water according to package directions and drain. I like to put the pasta back into the pan and back onto the burner to get any remaining moisture out. You need to stir continually while doing this.

Add the Parmesan cheese and parsley mixture to the pasta and toss well. Then add in the bacon and onion mixture and toss again. Sprinkle the remaining bit of parsley on top. Serve immediately on warm plates and pass the extra Parmesan cheese.

Soup for Supper - Italian Chicken Soup

2011-12-09T22:31:00.000-08:00

Last night was our annual holiday potluck for one of my gardening groups -- Northwest Perennial Alliance. We get together for some holiday cheer and make wreaths. Several of us have wreath-making machines, one of the best birthday gifts I ever talked my husband into giving me! I've had so much fun with it over the years. If he had known the amount of greenery I'd strew all over the porch and deck for the entire month of December, I'm sure he never would have bought it. Or that after every storm, I'd be out there driving around looking for downed branches, which I then bring home and strew all over the porch and deck. I need a bumper sticker that says, "I brake for pine boughs." Every year he says, "Can we not have so many branches this year?" But then I see a little fir tip laying there looking so perfect I just have to pick it up and drag it home. It's a sickness, I know. One year a friend and I drove around looking for lichen-covered twigs, which are a particular favorite of mine (and hers). I'm ashamed to say (ok, not really ashamed at all) that we went onto some private property and cut some. One of these days my shenanigans are going to land me in the pokey. I wonder if they'll let me decorate with wreaths during the holidays...

Anyway, back to the food part of this story, I decided to make soup and eggnog as my contribution to the evening. I wasn't in the mood for any of my usual soups, so I went in search of something new on the web and found one on Pioneer Woman's site for Italian Chicken Soup. I had to change up a few things. One of her ingredients was a can of whole tomatoes. You are supposed to take the tomatoes and dice them, then return them to their juice. Helloooo, do they not have diced tomatoes in your neck of the woods, Ree? Being limited in time this week, I simpified the recipe a teensy bit. It turned out delicious.

For the eggnog, I had planned on just buying cartons of eggnog, dumping them in the punch bowl and adding booze and grated nutmeg. Like I said, limited time this week. I was looking around to see what kind of booze to dump in and how much when I came upon this recipe that seemed easy enough. So I made some of that just to try it out. It was really good and quite easy. Definitely a keeper recipe.

Sorry, no photos of the food for this one. Did I mention I was super swamped?

In-A-Hurry Italian Chicken Soup
1 box Detalini Pasta (very short macaroni-type pasta)
2 T olive oil, divided
1 whole cut up cooked chicken or the equivalent (I cooked up some breasts and used that), shredded
8 cups chicken broth
1 medium onion, diced
2 green bell peppers, diced
2 stealks celery, diced
2 jalapeno peppers, diced
1 T olive oil
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
2 cups heavy cream
EVOO
4 T minced fresh oregano (or the equivalent dried)
salt and pepper to taste
parmesan cheese shavings for garnish

Cook the pasta according the package directions. The timing on the pasta package is usually very accurate. Drain it, toss in 1 T olive oil, and set it aside.

In a very large pot (everything has to fit) and using about 1 T olive oil, sautee the onions, green pepper, celery, and jalapenos over medium heat until tender and golden brown, about 10 minutes. Add in the oregano and cook for just a minute or so more, stirring.

Add in the chicken broth, shredded chicken, and diced tomatoes. Bring it to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add in the cooked pasta and cream and drizzle with a small amount of EVOO. Serve with the parmesan on top.

Book Review - The Kitchen Diaries

2011-12-05T01:56:00.001-08:00

I check out a lot of cookbooks from our library. Some of them I even cook from. That sticky spot on page 26 of Tartine Bread? Nope, that wasn't me! At any given time, I have four or five or more in my stack of library books. This is just to say, I read a lot of cookbooks. I never really met a cookbook I didn't like. But I haven't met very many that I really love. I can't even remember what prompted me to check out The Kitchen Diaries. It wasn't easy to get. It had to be ordered on a special Interlibrary Loan because our system doesn't carry it. (When I return it, I hope to convince them of the error of their ways.)

The Kitchen Diaries, a year in the kitchen with Nigel Slater, written by British cookbook author and columnist Nigel Slater (photographs by Jonathan Lovekin) is the quintessential slow food cookbook. The first sentence of the book—"Right food, right place, right time"—sums it up perfectly. Slater goes on to say, "There is something deeply, unshakeably right about eating food in season…Learning to eat with the ebb and flow of the seasons is the single thing that has made my eating more enjoyable." For me personally, chocolate is the single thing that has made my eating more enjoyable, but I do agree—eating food at its peak of perfection nourishes the soul as well as the body.

As the title implies, the cookbook is laid out in diary form, starting with the obvious January. He chronicles his year of eating with 15 to 18 entries each month. Some of them are complete recipes; some are merely descriptions of what he ate and how he fixed it. All are written in a friendly and inviting manner that makes one want to cozy up and settle in for a long winter's read.

I really love his writing style. He's so much more than just a cookbook author. His writing is intimate and works splendidly with the diary format of the book. He welcomes you into his kitchen and his life, and you feel as if you're sharing the meal with him. Some of the delicious meals that Nigel and I shared: A really good spaghetti Bolognese in January; Shrimp and cilantro rolls in March; Clams with ham and sherry in June; An extravagant supper of rare beef, red salad, and cheeses in August; and last, but definitely not least!, poached pears with ice cream and chocolate sauce in November.

The Kitchen Diaries makes the perfect Christmas gift for your favorite slow foodie. Did I mention I don't have my own copy yet?

Poached Pears with Praline Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce

4 pears

2 T golden caster sugar

1 vanilla pod

200 g fine dark chocolate

Praline ice cream

1 T lemon juice

Pour a litre of water into a deep wide pan, add the sugar, vanilla pod and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Peel the pears, tug out their stalks, then halve them and scoop out their cores. Drop them into the sugar syrup and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the pears are translucent and tender. Leave in the syrup to cool. During this time they will become silkily soft and soaked through with syrup.

Get the ice cream out of the freezer. Chop the chocolate. Bring 200ml of water to a boil, then whisk in the chocolate, removing from the heat as soon as it has melted, just a matter of seconds. Place two pear halves on each of four dishes, add the praline ice cream, one ball per person should be ample, then pour over the warm chocolate sauce.

"I Do" Love Chocolate Apple Cake!

2011-11-16T00:48:00.000-08:00

Holidays often revolve around traditions and traditions often revolve around food. We always went to Aunt Chrissy's house for Christmas while I was growing up. Lots of family and lots of food. That's all the tradition I really need. (Although I do really like family traditions.)

Phone calls ahead of time assured that Dottie's applesauce meatballs and Chrissy's chocolate apple cake would be waiting for me. So when I got engaged and we set our wedding date for December 27, and when it came time to pick out our wedding cake, I knew exactly what I wanted - chocolate apple cake!

Since this was a bundt cake recipe, and since I wanted a tiered wedding cake, I was a little nervous about how this would be accomplished. Armed with my recipe, I visited my wedding cake vendor of choice and was delighted to discover she would be happy to adapt the recipe to a tiered wedding cake. I was even happier to discover that the cost would be less than one of her own cakes because this recipe uses oil rather than butter and she felt that was a cost savings she wanted to pass on. Oh happy day - how often does something like that happen?!

My sister gave me the little kissing angels on top of the cake.

I still have them and put them out every Christmas.

Without further ado, cuz I know all you want are the photos and the recipe, here you go.

Chocolate Apple Cake...suitable for Christmas, weddings, or just anytime you need a really yummy cake!

Cream together:
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
1/2 cup water
1 Tablespoon vanilla or 1/2 teaspoon orange extract + 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

In a separate bowl, sift:
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-1/2 cups flour
2 Tablespoons cocoa (unsweetened, powdered)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon allspice

(I'm lazy. I don't always sift when I should. I often do not sift this when I make it. Although I did sift it this time.)

Mix the sifted (or not) ingredients into the creamed mixture. Then stir in:

1 cup copped English walnuts
1/2 cup chocolate chips (sometimes I use a little more!)
2 medium size cored Pippin apples (with peels on), diced

(I leave the nuts out because we don't like nuts in cake here at our house. And if you can't find Pippins, just use any cooking type of apple. I used Braeburns this time. I dice them small, but not too tiny. But I honestly don't think it matters. It just depends on if you like big chunks of apple in your cake or teeny ones.)

Mix thoroughly. Pour into a greased tube pan (springform pan with a hole in the middle). Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or 1 hour or until done. Sometimes this takes a really long time to bake. Maybe it depends on the moisture content of the apples. But I've noticed over the years that the cooking time really varies. Also, you can make it in any type of pan. I usually make it in a regular cake pan. You'll just need to adjust the baking time.

Frost with your favorite cream cheese frosting.

My Favorite Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream together:
4 oz cream cheese
3 Tablespoons softened butter

Add:
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar (maybe a little more or a little less, in order to get the consistency you like)

Beat until creamy. Then stir in 1 teaspoon of orange extract and some grated orange rind. Or, if you're using a fresh orange, you can just add in fresh squeezed orange juice.

What, you were expecting an actual cake? Well, I was planning on an actual cake. But when I went to get the bundt pan out of the baking cupboard, I saw the cupcake tins. It was easier to get to them!

And I've never made these as cupcakes before, so I wanted to give it a try.

And it also occurred to me I could eat one, have a few to share with my Tuesday-night-at-The-Clyde co-workers, and freeze the rest for a holiday meal, thereby having a holiday dessert already done and the added bonus of removing all temptation for me to eat an entire chocolate apple cake for breakfast some morning this week.

I baked the cupcakes for about 40 minutes, which I think was about 10 minutes too long. The Aga is very forgiving. But these were just a tad dry and I would bake them less next time. Also, they didn't come out of the tins very neatly, as you can see, so I would try cupcake liners next time.

Come join the fun at the My Baking Addiction and GoodLife Eats Holiday Recipe Swap sponsored by Chicago Metallic.

Nancy Pearl and The Book List

2011-11-09T17:03:00.000-08:00

Another entertaining afternoon listening to the always delightful Nancy Pearl review some of her favorite books of the past year. As always, I race home to be the first to put some of them on hold at the library. I put 6 on hold, bringing my total holds up to 19. Fingers crossed they don't all come in at the same time.

And great news - one of Nancy's recommended books I've already checked out. Never mind that it's overdue. Our fabulous library system never charges a fine and they don't even put a block on my account until it's more than one week past due. By my calculations, I'll have 8 more days to read The Tragedy of Arthur before I'm forced to return it and other overdue books. Yay!

If you missed today's event, here's Nancy's list for 2011.

On Canaan's Side by Sebastian Barry

In Zanesville by Jo Ann Beard

The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal

Erasure by Percival Everett

Next to Love by Elen Feldman

A World on Fire by Amanda Foreman

The Memory of Love by Amanita Forna

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

Blind Sight by Med Howrey

The Arrogant Years: One Girl's Search for Her Lost Youth, from Cairo to Brooklyn by Lucette Lagnado

The Apothecary by Maile Meloy (young adult novel)

The Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

To Be Sung Underwater by Tom McNeal

The Tragedy of Arthur by Arthur Phillips

Summer of the Bear by Bella Pollen

A Pet for Petunia by Paul Schmid (children's picture book)

There But For The by Ali Smith

By George by Wesley Stace

Vaclav & Lena by Haley Tanner

In the course of her talk, and during the question-and-answer period afterwards, the following were also suggested as being worthy.

The Brothers K by David James Duncan

Must You Go by Antonia Fraser

As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto by Joan Reardon

Tempest Tost by Robertson Davies

Stone Arabia by Dana Spiotta

Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend by Susan Orlean

The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean

The True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey

Cloudstreet by Tim Winton

Dirt Music by Tim Winton

Divergent by Veronica Roth (young adult novel)

Legend by Marie Lu (young adult novel)

And a personal recommendation Nancy gave me in the lady's room...

Witches on the Road Tonight by Sheri Holman

It always pays to go to the bathroom.

Off to read I go. Maybe I'll have pizza for dinner and read my book at the table.

So glad I had parents who let me read at the dinner table. Fond memories...

A Near Kitchen Disaster = Pumpkin Bars with Orange Glaze

2011-11-02T01:47:00.000-07:00

It all started when I read a post on the BGE forum about roasting pumpkins. Then I read about Pumpkin Bars with Orange Glaze over on the Boulder Locavore site and decided I needed to make them. So I got a couple pie pumpkins, cut them in half, sprinkled cinnamon on the cut sides, put them cut side down in a roasting pan, and slid them into a 450 degree oven. And promptly forgot all about them. Some two and a half hours later, I remembered and found this waiting for me:

Aaaack! What a mess. Don't cha just hate it when that happens? I couldn't even get a spatula under it to scrape it into the garbage. So I sat the pan on the counter to cool off and went on my merry way.

Some time later, passing through the kitchen, I decided to just take a taste of the insides to see what they tasted like. Lo and behold, I had some seriously sweet pumpkin goop going on! This wasn't going in the garbage can after all! Don't cha just love it when that happens?

So I proceeded to take the skin off--it just lifts right up--fun!--and scraped whatever wasn't completely charred into the Cuisinart to puree it into creamy pumpkiny goodness.

Into the fridge it went until it was time to make my pumpkin bars.

In the meantime, I had found the same recipe on several other sites. They all appeared to be pretty much the same and all had one serious flaw: The recipe didn't make nearly enough! One small 9x9 pan of pumpkin bars with orange glaze just wasn't going to cut it. So I doubled the recipe. I also added salt. My mom always says that if you don't put in salt, your cookies, cakes, or pumpkin bars will taste 'flat.' I don't know what the heck that means, but I sure wasn't about to have my pumpkin bars taste 'flat,' so I added salt. Cautiously. A very small amount. I also doubled the amount of pumpkin. I'd like to say I did this because I'm a culinary genius and I knew that adding extra pumpkin would make my recipe superior. But I cannot tell a lie. The truth is that I made a mistake. Aaaack! Dont cha just hate it when that happens? But you know what?! The pumpkin bars turned out great. And, in fact, I didn't even realize I had doubled the pumpkin until I was typing this up. And did I mention the pumpkin bars turned out great? Serendipitily great. Dont cha just love it when that happens?

Pumpkin Bars with Orange Glaze

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups firmly packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 cups (or less) roasted-just-right pumpkin puree

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon mace

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup raisins

1 cup pecans

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter; then add in the brown sugar and beat well. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each. Add in the pumpkin, mixing well.

Measure out your flour, spices, baking soda, and salt and stir together. Slowly add the dry stuff into the pumpkin mixture, beating until well combined. Stir in the raisins and pecans.

Grease a very large Pyrex type casserole dish. Mine is about 16 x 9 or 10 I think. It's really big. It's the biggest I've seen. Scoop the batter into the pan and smooth it out to get it as even as possible.

Bake for 45 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean.

Just before the bars are due to come out of the oven, prepare the Orange Glaze by whisking together:

2 cups powdered sugar

5 tablespoons orange juice

When the bars are done, drizzle the glaze over them immediately while they're still warm. It helps to use a silicon pastry brush to distribute the glaze evenly. A lot of it runs to the edges of the pan, but I just swept it back toward the center until it all looked even.

Allow the bars to cool. Very important to let them cool completely because like brownies, they're hard to cut if you decide you can't wait. Using the edge of a spatula gets a cleaner cut than using a knife. This is especially true if you can't wait til they're cooled off. (This trick works with brownies too.) This recipe made 36 very decent-sized bars. If you cut them smaller, you'll get quite a few more.

These are super yummy and are perfect for fall and holiday baking. Everyone I shared these with loved them. They stayed moist for several days, even when cut.

A Literary Dinner

2011-10-25T16:21:00.000-07:00

I started this post over a year ago. This is actually a party we threw in the spring of 2010. But I never got around to finishing it and since I can't remember any other details of the evening, I'm just going to post as is! And try to be better about completing my drafts in the future.

A LITERARY DINNER

Last night we had four other couples over for a 'literary' dinner. I asked everyone to bring a recent favorite book or an all-time favorite book or any book at all.

Originially I wanted to use iron-on transfers and print food quotes from novels onto some white napkins I never use. But when I went to get the napkins out, I discovered I didn't have enough. So I ended up making bookmarks that the guests could take home.

I also made a floral arrangement using pages from an old book wrapped around the vase, as well as leaves made from pages from the same book.

Along with this menu, we also had stuffed mushroom and a roasted red pepper dip with bruchetta that some of the guests brought for appetizers.

All in all, it was a really fun evening. Recipes below.

Guava-Smoked Meatloaf
In a large bowl, lightly beat 3 eggs. Add worcestershire sauce, chili sauce, salt, pepper, minced garlic, onions that have been sauteed, and any spices you like. I typically use thyme, oregano, marjoram, and parsley. If you're going to make a free form meatloaf and cook it on a pan, continue on to the meat part. If you're going to put it in meatloaf pans, add 1/3 to 1/2 can beef consomme.

After all that is mixed together, add 3# ground beef (half of which should be ground chuck) and mix together with your hands.

Pat into 2 or 3 small tinfoil meatloaf pans. Poke holes in the bottom. (Or you can just make a big mound and put it on a rack on a pan, if you're going to cook it in the oven. But if you don't want to use the little tin meatloaf pans, leaf out the consomme because it'll be too wet to hold its shape.)

I cook these on our Big Green Egg bbq indirect (platesetter) at about 300 to 325. I use guava wood to add a little smoked flavor. I purchased the guava wood a long time ago from Guava Greg on the BGE forum. I haven't seen him there in a long time. After one hour, I turn the meatloaf out of the pans onto the grill. I continue cooking them until they read 155 or just under on my Thermapen thermometer.

Crash Potatoes
There are recipes all over the internet for these potatoes. I used the one from The Pioneer Woman.

Roasted Broccoli
I just threw some broccoli in the roasting pan, drizzled a little olive oil over it, and roasted til it was starting to turn that nice dark roasty color.

Grilled Asparagus with Pancetta
This one is easy peasy and oh so good. Peel and trim your asparagus, toss with olive oil and fresh ground pepper. Then wrap them with pieces of pancetta, and grill on the bbq. Grill over direct heat cooking anywhere between 350 and 400, turning until pancetta is golden brown in spots and the asparagus is crisp-tender. It doesn't take very long and it needs to be watched so it doesn't burn.

8-Hour Cheesecake
I'm going to save the cheesecake recipe for another post. I make Maida Heatther's 8-Hour Cheesecake, mainly because it's so easy to do with the Aga, comes out super creamy, does not have to be refrigerated, thus freeing up room in the fridge (although it can be, it just changes the texture), and is crustless, since I'm not a huge fan of graham cracker crusts paired with cheesecake. If you can't wait for me to post later about this, this recipe can easily be found on the 'net.

Zucchini Relish, Part Deux

2011-08-04T19:26:00.000-07:00

Finished up the relish today. Oh, it's sooooo good!

Here's the recipe for day two: (See here for day one.)

5 c white sugar
2-1/4 c vinegar
2 t turmeric
2 t celery seed
1 T dry mustard
1 t nutmeg
1/2 c corn starch
1/4 t hot chili pepper (dried)
1green pepper, minced
1 red pepper, minced.

Cook 30 minutes. Use a large pan, it will boil up. Add drained zucchini/onion mixture and heat all to a boil. Set clean hot jars in a pan of water and add relish. Seal with new lids and turn upside down for 5 mins. Turn back upright.

Between yesterday and today I had emailed back and forth with the woman who gave me this recipe. I asked her about the pulp thing. She said don't worry about it, this recipe is very forgiving. I like forgiving.

As I made this, I wondered about a couple things:

* Wow, that's a lot of sugar!

* What kind of vinegar? Since it called for a lot, I used white vinegar because I keep large jugs on hand for cleaning purposes. (Not that I ever actually clean, so it doesn't get much use.)

* Wow, that's a lot of cornstarch

* Hot chili pepper, dried, what the heck is that? I used red pepper flakes.

The only changes I made to the above recipe were I used 2 c white vinegar and 1/4 c balsamic vinegar. And I used 2.5 t celery seed just cuz I really like celery seed.

For you Aga owners:

I cooked the mixture on the BP til it came to a boil and then I put it in the SO for the remainder of the 30 mins. I didn't do the hot water in a pan and upside down thing. I put all the jars in the SO for 15 mins and then pulled them out. I didn't feel there was a big need to process this due to all the sugar and vinegar and I've read you can dry process jams and such in the SO, so I've done that a few times with good results. The lids all popped after I pulled them out.

I ended up with 11 and a half jars of relish. Most of the jars were the regular size jars you always see in the grocery store. One was shorter and stockier and 2 were slightly larger. So that's a good amount of relish. I absolutely love Love LOVE the way all the filled jars look after I can something.

I decided to go in search of other zucchini relish recipes on the web to see how they compared to mine. Wow, they are all over the place in regards to quantities of ingredients. Most call for pretty much the same as my recipe, altho some leave out a few items. The most interesting was similar to mine ex it added in 2 cups of chopped red mango. Now that sounds like some relish! I'll probably add in mangos next time.

There was a huge difference in the amounts of sugar. One called for 6 cups, several called for 5 or 5.5, and many called for less. I will definitely use less next time. And I'm so tempted to try canning with Splenda. Has anyone had good results with that?

While some called for 'vinegar' or 'white vinegar,' most called for apple cider vinegar. Duh! Next time I will use that and save the balsamic for something you can tell the difference in.

Nutmeg was only listed in one or two of the other recipes I checked. I like nutmeg. It doesn't seem to really make a difference in this relish, meaning I can't taste it, but since I like it, I'll keep putting it in!

Corn starch - none of the other recipes came close to this quantity of corn starch. I haven't decided, but I may cut back on the amount next time I make this.

All the recipes called for using enamel or earthenware utensils, not aluminum.

Here's the range I found:

10 - 12 c zucchini, minced, diced, or shredded (one called for ultra thin slices)
3-5 c onions, yellow or red
2-4 bell peppers, red, green, or a combination
5 T salt or rock salt (a couple called for 1/2 c rock salt but the vast majority stuck to 5 T)

Leave for one hour before the drain/rinse/drain or 3 hours or overnight. Some say to refrigerate it overnight, some don't.

2.5 c to 6 c white sugar or brown sugar
2 c to 5 c vinegar (seems like anything over 2-1/4 would make it too liquidy), white or apple cider or both
3/4 t to 2 t turmeric
1.5 t to 2 t celery seed
1 T dry mustard or 4 T to 1 c (!!!) mustard seeds
1 t nutmeg
1 t to 1/2 c corn starch or arrowroot or flour
1/4 t hot chili pepper (dried) or 1 t coarse black pepper
1 to 2 green pepper, minced
1 to 2 red pepper, minced

Variations as in extra things you could add in:
2 c diced red mango (yum!)
1 c flat leaf parsley
15 T dried dill weed
5 bunches of green onions, chopped
garlic - anywhere from none to a whole lot
3 roasted green chili peppers
1 t grated ginger
1 t wasabi powder
1 t lemon basil or cilantro
hot sauce/tabasco

Cooking time was all over the map. Some say cook it all, including the zucchini and onions, for 30 mins; some say cook for only 5 or 10 mins. One called for an hour and a half cooking. Overkill I say. Some got complicated about mixing the thickener with water or vinegar and then adding it in. Not necessary I say.

Some say to process in a water bath for anywhere from 5 to 15 mins. Some don't mention processing. One says originally this recipe didn't call for processing but since the new rules came out, it now calls for processing. As far as I know, no one has ever died from eating unprocessed zucchini relish, but if you're worried about that sort of thing, then process away. If I planned to give this away as Christmas gifts, I probably would have processed because I like to err on the side of caution when giving food gifts. I suppose I should be more concerned with my own family! (Sorry, guys.)

The simplest of the recipes I looked at said to simmer the whole mess for 30 mins, put in hot clean jars, seal, and be done with it. Now that's easy!

Bottom line - this relish recipe is not only delicious, it's beyond forgiving. It's completely foolproof and it sounds like you couldn't mess it up if your tried. You can really go to town and make this your own. Really my favorite kind of recipe! And so colorful - using a mixture of yellow and green zucchini, red and yellow onions, and red and green peppers makes for an appealingly colorful relish.

Zucchini Relish

2011-08-03T11:43:00.000-07:00

Starting my zucchini relish today. I gave away a desk on Freecycle last summer and the woman who came to get it brought me a jar of her zucchini relish. It was eat-out-of-the-jar-with-a-spoon delicious, so I begged the recipe from her. The only thing I'm planning to change is to add in a little bit of balsamic vinegar in place of the regular vinegar. This recipe is a two-dayer. Today:

5 cups finely chopped onions
10 cups finely chopped zucchini, seeds and pulp removed
Sprinkle with 5 T rock salt and leave covered overnight.

Thanks to my handy-dandy food processor, day one was a breeze. I bought 5 organic onions thinking each would yield about a cup. Each was about 2 cups, so I only used 3 and now I have about a cup of onions in my freezer for the next time I need diced onions. I love that!

Did you know that if you breathe only through your mouth when you chop onions, it won't sting your eyes. I wore contact lenses from the time I was in high school until about 9 years ago. At several intervals, I used glasses instead of contacts. Never once in my life did my eyes ever sting from working with onions. In 2002 I had lasik eye surgery and after boy oh boy, now I know what everyone has talked about! Isn't it odd that the surgery would change that?! Then I learned the breathe through your mouth trick. Works like a charm.

I don't really know what zucchini pulp is. I halved the zucchinis lengthwise and used a little strawberry huller I have to scrape down the center. I barely took out anything, because the seeds were miniscule to nonexistent, so I may have more pulp than I'm supposed to. Guess we'll find out tomorrow! My zucchinis were in the 270g - 350g size. I used two green and 3 yellow, all organic.

An interesting fact I recently learned from one of our local farmers (who I bought the zucchini from): Zucchini should be shiny. It doesn't matter how big it is as long as it's still shiny. She also says you can extend the life of zucchini by rubbing oil on it, thus keeping it shiny. I have no idea if this is true or not. I couldn't find anything else on the web about it, altho I did find places where it said to always look for shiny zucchini.

Stay tuned for day 2!

Prom Time

2011-05-01T21:09:00.000-07:00

It's always so much fun to do the prom flowers for all the kids. Here are some from the past couple years

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-23T19:48:00.000-08:00

** TWO GRADUATIONS & A FUNERAL ** MOM GETS STYLISH ** DOUBLE TROUBLE IN WALLA WALLA ** BRUTAL ATTACK BY 'DEAD-LY' MOLE **

ALL THIS AND MORE IN 2010's CHRISTMAS NOVELLA

(Brought to you this year in electronic format because ~~Scrooge~~ Jim said college tuition was more important than printer ink, Christmas cards, and stamps.)

GRADUATION #1

Jeff is 22 and graduated in May. He graduated cum laude and we're very proud of him. Danielle, his girlfriend, also graduated, and Jim and I met her parents when we were all in Oregon for their graduation. The ceremony was outdoors and it was a rainy weekend, but there is a God and he bathed us in warmth and sunshine for the entire ceremony. It began raining as we walked out of the stadium and by the time we reached the reception, we were drenched. This made for some wet graduation photos, but by then no one cared. We learned that the Hawaiian tradition is to heap leis on any and all. We could barely see the grads. Since 30% of the students at Pacific U are from Hawaii, there were a lot of leis in the room. After the reception, we went out to lunch with Danielle's family. Later that night we met up at McMenamin's Grand Lodge for music and snacks. We had a really great time until we got home and discovered that leaving Jesse at home alone is a very bad and expensive idea*.

DOUBLE TROUBLE IN WALLA WALLA

Jeff and Danielle spent the summer in Forest Grove; Jeff worked on campus and Danielle worked with children in the foster care system. They came here for a visit in August and then went over to Hawaii to visit Danielle's family. In September they moved to Walla Walla. Danielle is doing a one-year grad program there. Jeff started working graveyard restocking grocery shelves while he looks for a daytime job. He would like to work for the airlines and has recently interviewed for a part-time job with Horizon Air, so he's hoping that will work out.

PNWer DISCOVERS SECRET TO YEAR ROUND TANNING

Tim is 20, in his junior year at Pacific, and looking forward to turning 21 in February. He yet again spent the summer life guarding and working on his tan at Useless Bay Golf and Country Club. He has a season pass at Mt. Hood for the ski season and can't wait for snow. Not sure if it's because he really enjoys snowboarding or just wants to work on his winter tan. Maybe a little of both. In addition to his classes, he works on campus building sets in the theater department. He's decided to major in business with anemphasis in accounting. He loves coming home to visit (and we love having him), and in recent years has really gotten into tv sports, so he and Jim spend a lot of time tuned in.

GRADUATION #2

Jesse is 19, and our sweet baby boy graduated from high school in June. We collaborated with our backdoor neighbors and threw a joint graduation party for a number of families. Then the kids went off to grad night and I tagged along as a chaperone. Jesse did an excellent job of making sure we were never in the same area for more than 1.25 seconds. In August the boy who couldn't wait to get away from home and his parents went off to Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. He was home twice for visits before Halloween even came around. (Not that I'm complaining.) This entails a 6-hour car ride to get home and a 9-hour bus ride to get back, but he said it's worth it. At least until the third bus ride home for Thanksgiving, and now he's sick of spending all day on a bus, so I imagine we won't be seeing him as often unless he can find a car ride both ways.

I've spent the last year gearing up to return to the court reporting field, practicing on my new equipment and shopping for a new business wardrobe. I have not actually gone out and taken any depositions yet because life keeps getting in the way. I hope to soon. If only because I want to wear my new clothes! Of course I continue to work at the movie theater on Tuesdays taking tickets and sub throughout the year in the snack bar. I did corsages and boutonnières for the prom last May, and in August I catered a small picnic for Island County Master Gardeners, which I am a member of.

Jim is still working for Evergreen Construction in Auburn. He upped his commute to three days a week and then works from home two days. He doesn't really do a whole lot aside from working and writing tuition checks. Unless you count cleaning up dog poop, grocery shopping, and ironing. I for one am getting really tired of his hedonistic lifestyle.

A FUNERAL

Kenzie started having seizures early in the year and as the year progressed they got worse until finally we were not able to control them with meds anymore. So Buddy is now an only dog and is loving that. He is my constant and faithful companion and is unbelievably well-behaved. Finally I have someone who listens to me.

Charlie is still gainfully employed keeping the vermin population at bay, and we have our little flock of 6 hens. (We started out with 7 but 'Gracie' (barred hen in the background) sadly became a hawk's dinner the day before Thanksgiving). Turns out I didn't need to be worried at all about chickens, dogs, and cats coexisting peacefully. I wish I had a video of the two hens racing, and beating, Buddy for a piece of popcorn I threw on the ground. 'Nina C' (buff hen in the foreground) has turned out to be a handful. She routinely wanders off and either gets lost or just decides to not return to the coop for the night. We find her the next morning either back at the coop or stranded in the rose brambles. She never seems to learn her lesson. I have written her off as a goner many times, but she always reappears. She has more lives than a cat. Too bad the same couldn't be said for 'Gracie.'

In July Jim, Jesse, Buddy, and I drove over to Montana to visit our friends, the Kosloskys. Some of my PNW gardening friends also made the trip over so we could all meet up with a member of the group who lives not far from Keith and Barb. We had a good time visiting friends, gardens, and nurseries and playing in Steve's massage chair.

Jan, Sawyer, and Tristyn came for a quick visit towards the end of July. There was lots of trampolining and endless trips to the chicken coop to chase and fondle the hens. By the last day of their visit, the hens went on strike and quit laying. It was the only time since they started laying that we didn't get any eggs. Sawyer and Tristyn declared 'Dottie' their favorite. In truth, poor 'Dottie' was the slowest and therefore, the easiest to catch.

We had a gorgeous fall – beautiful sunny days, and with no frost the dahlias just bloomed their heads off. It more than made up for the summer we never had. (Rain, rain, and more rain.)

DEAD-LY MOLE ATTACK

Our annual apple pressing was our most successful yet. It took us four years to figure out, but caramel apple martinis will be on the menu henceforth. There were about 20 people in all. Besides our Whidbey apple-pressing regulars, Jim and MaryAnn Nahmens, Barb and Keith Koslosky, and Mike Roantree came in from out of town to spend the weekend with us.

A great time was had by all, except for Jim. While out on dog poop patrol, he thought he was picking up a dead mole that Charlie had killed when suddenly it came alive and bit him in the finger. Naturally much fuss was made over this pitiful and miniscule wound with a great deal of beer drinking necessary as a painkiller. The unfortunate creature grew larger and more vicious with each beer consumed. Somewhere on Whidbey Island there is a zombie vampire mole leaving a trail of victims in its wake.

We had a nice Thanksgiving with our friends Jeff and Barb Ewing at their home. Jeff and Danielle weren't able to get the time off to come up and the passes were too snowy for us to make it to Walla Walla, so we joined the Ewings along with other friends for a great feast that included turduken. Don't you have to wonder about whoever was sitting around one day and decided to start stuffing various birds inside each other?!

DAD'S IN THE POORHOUSE BUT MOM IS STYLIN'!

Jim is eagerly awaiting 2011. 2010 was the year of unexpected expenses and he would like to put the spending to rest. All three vehicles have needed extensive and expensive repairs – new engines, new radiators, new doors*, new tires, more new tires when the brand new tire was damaged (a very bitter pill to swallow), new window rolling mechanism, new brakes, and the list goes on.

Then there have been the vet bills, the most recent being today when Charlie Cat had to go in to be sedated so he could have a five-and-a-half-inch blade of grass extracted from his nasal cavity, which had resulted in swelling and infection. It perhaps would have saved us $287.26 if someone had just mowed the grass.

And my late night visit to the ER (see next paragraph) followed the next morning by a visit from the fire department when the dryer caught on fire. Turns out a previous owner rerouted the venting incorrectly. The fire chief said we were very lucky. We weren't feeling real lucky as we paid a contractor to come out and reroute it all according to code.

Medical expenses have run high and we haven't even gotten the bills for my recent angioplasty. After about a month of chest pains, the run-around from doctors, and news that I may or may not have had a 'silent' heart attack, I had an angiogram last week that revealed a 95% blocked artery. So they stented that and I'm now good as new. Even better than new because upon arrival home from the hospital, I checked out my incision in the mirror and discovered that I was sporting a new 'do.' Surely it qualifies as the most expensive Brazilian ever. I'm on restricted activities for a month or so, which to me means no housework and no lifting anything heavier than a wine glass. Red wine, of course.

So as we head into 2011 much poorer but at least one of us a bit more stylish, I raise my wine glass to all of you and wish you a very merry Christmas and happy holiday season.

Jim, Gwen, Jeff, Tim, & Jesse

LATE BREAKING NEWS – AND THEN THERE WERE FIVE

Just when I thought the hawk was gone and it was safe to let the chickens out – he returned and got 'Mary Lou' (white chicken in above photo). Very sad. So it looks like we'll be putting up some sort of 'roof' over the chicken run in the near future. I wish chickens came in green or camouflage.

2010-10-10T15:56:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we held our 4th annual apple pressing and harvest party. We had 7 friends come in to stay from out of town and with their help, we took this fun event to new heights.

First off, we hit upon the idea of serving appletinis. I have no idea why it took us 4 years to figure this out, but I sure am glad we did. I looked up online some recipes for apple martinis; then, armed with these recipes, set out for the liquor store. I bought all the ingredients for all the recipes, printed up the recipes onto one piece of paper, and set everything out on a 'serve yourself' table. Hands down the caramel apple martini was the favorite of the day. The butterscotch schnapps used to make it was the only liquor we ran out of. I'll definitely be getting another bottle of that stuff! Someone mentioned it was good in hot cocoa and with winter approaching...

We had 20 people this year, our largest gathering yet. No doubt due to our friends who drove and flew in from Montana and California and -- where is Mikey from anyway? -- Oregon/Washington/Alaska. For the first year since we moved here, we had no apples from our trees. Well, we had a very few but the dog ate them as they fell prematurely from the trees. So I had to drive over to Wenatchee the weekend prior to pick up apples for the party. A couple other people brought some as well, so we ended up with plenty.

Our out-of-town friends came in the day before and we put them right to work. Barb and Mikey helped with the decorating.

Then there is the added benefit of the allure of the riding mower for city folk.

After a quick lesson from Jim, MaryAnne is raring to go!

And the next thing ya know, the south 40 is mowed and it's time to move on to more 'pressing' matters. (Get it?)

First the apples go into the hopper thingie. (I'm going to give it to you in technical terms.)

I'm the one hard at work with a caramel appletini in my hand.

Next the mushed up apples get put into the press. Muscle is required at this juncture.

Apple juice!

But we're not done yet. Many hands make light work when it comes to bottling. Some are in the kitchen rinsing and sterilizing bottles, some are funneling juice, and some are flaked out on the couch shirking their duties.

(Just kidding. This photo was taken at the end of the night.)

Once the apples are all pressed and things are cleaned up, it's time to admire our efforts and then get down to the business of dinner.

Some of us didn't want to miss the game, so set up ringside seats just outside the tv room.

Some of us were more civilized and social.

This is my attempt at an artsy photo to get everyone in the picture. Or maybe this is my attempt at an artsy photo after too many appletinis.

A great time was had by all, due in no small part to the appletinis, great friends, and delicious food.

Caramel Appletinis

2 parts butterscotch schnapps

2 parts sour apple pucker

1 park vodka

Mix in a cocktail mixer with ice; then pour through the strainer into martini glasses. We rented martini glasses for this party. Small expense, big impact, so much fun!

Apple Wild Rice Salad

This recipe is from my friend Jill Engstrom.

6 cups chicken broth

1 cup uncooked wild rice

4 cups apple, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

4 tablespoons green onions, chopped

3 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

3 tablespoons sesame oil

2 cups pecans, finely chopped

Bring the broth to a boil. Add the rice, bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and cook until just tender (maybe about an hour). Drain well.

Transfer the rice to a large bowl. Mix in the apples, peppers, and green onions.

In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil. Drizzle over the salad and toss to coat. Season with fresh pepper. Mix the nuts into the salad just before serving, reserving a few to sprinkle on top. Feeds a whole bunch of people.

Caramel Apple Cookies

1 cup butter

2-2/3 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

2-1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 or 2 teaspoons cloves

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2 cups apples, chopped fine or grated

2 cups raisins or golden raisins

1/2 cup apple juice or cider

2 cups chopped or broken walnuts

Cream the sugar and butter together; then add eggs and cream. Mix well. Add in the dry ingredients and mix lightly. Stir in the apples, raisins, and walnuts. You can decrease the juice and/or add in extra flour or oatmeal to get the right consistency. I have never needed to change anything when I make this. Refrigerate for at least one hour before baking. This step will firm up the dough considerably.

Drop onto greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 12 minutes. Let cool before frosting.

Caramel Frosting

Melt together 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup brown sugar. Do not burn but allow it to get a little brown for flavor. Mix in 1-1/2 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 2-1/2 teaspoons light cream or evaporated milk. I usually use evaporated milk because that's what I usually have on hand. Frost the cookies while the frosting is still warm. You may want to double the frosting or add more cream, depending on how thick you like your frosting. It's really sweet. I thin it out and drizzle it on in a pattern. Pretty!

Guinness Beef Stew for St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T17:29:00.000-07:00

Even though I'm not Irish, I do love many of their customs - Irish coffee and Guinness Beef Stew being at the top of that list!

I first had Guinness Beef Stew in a little pub in Seattle, the Owl N Thistle Irish Pub and Restaurant. I liked it so much, I've been back a few times for more and have also made it at home several times.

Today, in honor of St. Patrick's Day, I thought I'd make it again and come up with a recipe, rather than just throwing stuff in a pot and adding beer, and I think it turned out pretty darn good! I read online about adding sugar, bittersweet chocolate, or prunes to counteract the bitterness of the Guinness Stout. I went with prunes today; next time I may try the chocolate, just to compare.

Guinness Beef Stew

1-1/2 to 2# beef stew
olive oil
1 or 2 onions, finely diced
1 to 2 cups carrots, finely diced
2 to 4 T minced garlic
2 t thyme
1/2 t pepper
1 t kosher salt
1-1/2 cups Guinness Stout, divided
1 cup water
2 cans beef broth
2 t Worcestershire sauce
2 T tomato paste
2 bay leaves
8 to 10 mushrooms
3/4 cups prunes, pitted and chopped
2 T flour

(I have written the directions for this recipe as it would be made using an Aga cooker. For those using a traditional stove, you can translate as follows: BP means a burner with high heat, SP means a burner with low to medium heat. SO means to simmer, either on top of your stove or in a 250 degree oven.)

I browned the beef in some olive oil on the BP quickly, just enough to brown at least one side and give it some color, then tossed that into a large pot.

Next I sauteed the onion and carrots, again on the BP, adding the garlic toward the end, and then added it to the stew. I diced the onions and carrots so that they were pretty small - I wanted them for flavor and bulk, but I wanted the beef and Guinness to be the stars of this stew.

I moved the sautee pan over to the SP, and poured in 1-1/4 cups of Guinness to deglaze any bits left behind, then added the thyme, pepper, and salt, and poured it all into the stew.

I poured the water, 2 cans of beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, and tomato paste into the sautee pan and got it warm enough to dissolve the tomato paste, then added that to the stew. Finally I threw in some bay leaves and mushrooms. My bay leaves were very small so I put in 6, but I think aiming for around 2 large leaves is the goal. After wiping the mushrooms clean with a paper towel, half or quarter them depending on their size. The goal is to have them about the same size as the beef. I just love the flavor of mushrooms and beer together.

I put the stew pot on the BP to bring it to a boil, and then into the SO for about an hour. I then added the chopped prunes, put it back into the SO until I wanted to eat. The prunes pretty much cook away and you cannot even tell they're in there. An hour before I thought I'd be eating, I mixed the 2 T flour with the remaining 1/4 cup of Guinness Stout in a small pan on the SP, and once it was smooth, I added it to the stew to thicken. At this point, taste for S&P. I do not use much salt in most of my recipes, so you may want to up the salt for this, depending on your tastebuds. I put the pan back into the WO at this point as it had been in the SO a long time and I didn't want the beef to get overcooked.

I served this alongside potatoes. I could have put the potatoes into the stew, but my husband likes mashed, so I left them out so he could have it over mashed potatoes. I also think that putting the potatoes on the side is handy because if there are leftovers, the potatoes always get sort of mushy after refrigerating and reheating. This way you can make fresh potatoes the next day or whenever you're finishing off the stew.

CHRISTMAS COOKIES

2009-12-20T12:26:00.000-08:00

I grew up making Christmas cookies with my mom. We always had a variety of them, and they were usually the same from year to year. I can't really remember what we did with them; I don't think we gave them away. I'll have to ask her! Maybe we just ate them all ourselves. I know we did take a big lot of them down to my aunt's where where we always spent Christmas day.

We put them in a big box, like a gift box you'd receive a shirt in. They were in paper cupcake holders, three or four cookies in each one, and there were maybe five or six varieties. It's very hard to find the right kind of boxes anymore. They aren't tall enough. But I still like the box with cupcake papers best for Christmas cookie presentation.

After I 'grew up' (actually, I'm still waiting to do that) and moved out, I continued to make Christmas cookies to give away as gifts to family, friends, and co-workers. Every now and then I get too busy and Christmas goes by without me doing the cookies. I always feel let down when that happens. Often I do them the week between Christmas and New Years when things have calmed down a little, and that is probably what's going to happen this year.

While the variety of cookies changes from year to year, I have favorites that are always included - Mrs. Jordan's Ginger Cookies, Hello Dollies, Special K Bars, Pecan Balls, and good ol' Toll House Chocolate Chips. I usually will include brownies. When you're trying to whip out many cookies, the bar cookies really help speed things along. I will usually make up the dough for the Ginger and the Toll House cookies ahead and freeze it, which helps a bit too.

Our biggest problem has always been keeping the many different cookies fresh until they were all baked and packed and ready to deliver. I've never been one for freezing baked cookies and at this advanced age, I don't think that's going to change. What we did when I was growing up was use empty coffee cans. We would fill them with cookies (sometimes you need to use wax paper in between layers), and the snug plastic lids do a great job of keeping the cookies fresh for quite a few days.

So I am a great hoarder of coffee cans. Especially since we don't buy our coffee in cans and haven't for ages, so they can be hard to come by. I still have a box or two in the garage full of coffee cans to use for Christmas cookies. I just wish I knew where they were! Without the cans, I'm reduced to making the cookies all at once so they can be delivered fresh. My goal for 2010 is to find the coffee cans for next Christmas!

This year I plan to make seven different cookies -- the five aforementioned, along with brownies and blondies. I've already got the Ginger cookie dough in the freezer and maybe I can get the Toll House dough made up today. Of course, we'll have to bake a tray to eat right away, but I'm confident we can save enough dough for the freezer.

Whole Grain Challah

2009-12-15T01:11:00.000-08:00

For December the HBinFive group is making a whole grain challah with cranberries and orange zest. It was easy and yummy.

I followed the recipe exactly as written, using melted butter. One batch as written just about filled up my Kitchen Aid mixer. I added the water with the mixer on a lower speed, and there were no overflowing issues at all. I ended up with just under 5 pounds of dough, so was able to make 5 braids. I did a one-stranded braid, following the directions on this YouTube video. It wasn't as easy as they make it look, and I still wouldn't be able to do it without watching the video and pausing it midway through. But the end result looked great, if I do say so myself! And was pretty tasty too.

I've never eaten challah bread before, so I really have nothing to compare it to, but this whole grain version was not dense and heavy as you might expect. The cranberries and orange zest give it a nice holiday flavor.

One of the things I have enjoyed about both this recipe and the November pumpkin bread recipe is having the dough on hand in the fridge. It makes it so easy to whip out a loaf of delicious home-made bread pretty darn quick. I whipped up a batch last Wednesday evening, baked one loaf on Thursday, one on Saturday, and three on Sunday.

The last three loaves I made all at once and being in a hurry, forgot to put the egg/sugar/orange zest glaze on. Which was too bad because that added a lot to the bread, in my opinion, so I'll have to be more careful in the future. All in all, this is a great holiday bread for eating at home or giving as a gift.

2009-11-23T22:42:00.001-08:00

Time to get organized for Thanksgiving! When I'm having a party or food event I'm taking a lot of food to, I like to make a list of each dish, the ingredients that go into it, what I'm serving it on, etc. If I'm traveling, I also include any utensils or bowls, pans, etc., I need to take with me. I use the list for shopping and gathering ingredients, and I usually am adding, deleting, and making changes on it right up til the end. So Sunday I made up my list for Thursday's dinner.

Stuffed Mushrooms

Butternut squash soup – plate in kitchen
9 T butter
9 c butternut squash
4.5 c pears
3 T butter
2.25 c sliced leeks, white parts only
1.5 T minced garlic
9.5 c chicken stock
1.5 can coconut milk
Five spice powder
Fried walnuts
Toasted spices

Turkey – wooden cutting board
Turkey
Lemons
Oranges
Onions
foil

Gravy - gravy boat

Broccoli cranberry salad
1 c mayo
½ c sugar
1 T vinegar
2 bunches broccoli
½# bacon
3-4 green onions
1 c cashews
7.5 oz dried cranberries

Mashed potatoes
5# Yukon gold potatoes
8 oz cream cheese
1 c half n half
1 stick butter
1 t minced dry onions
1 t salt
¼ t pepper
1 T seasoned salt

Cranberry Relish
Cranberries
OJ
sugar

Dressing - pyrex dish

Green beans
Green beans
Bacon

Rolls

Cheese & fruit plate

Pumpkin pies
Flour
butter
2 cans pumpkin
2 cans evaporated milk
Whipping cream
1.5 c sugar
1 t salt
2 t cinnamon
1 t ginger
1.5 t cloves
4 eggs

Pumpkin cake rolls – ivory oval platters

Then, since this week is so hectic with people arriving on Tuesday night, I made up a to-do list and tried to assign things so that it isn't all left til the last minute. This is also a work in progress and I constantly add to it as I go along and figure things out. I could not get through a week like this without my list. It would seem overwhelming to me to hold all these details in my mind and I'd end up leaving it all until the last second and getting stressed. But after listing them on paper, it really seems doable and easy and even fun, and I don't need to worry about holding it my head. And I check them off as I go by changing the color to blue and it's so much fun to visually see everything getting done.

Monday
Purchase and prep flowers
Clean house

Make pumpkin brioche dough

Figure out turkey timetable

Tuesday
Arrange flowers
Make pumpkin chocolate chip muffins
Brine turkey

Make fried walnuts for soup

Make toasted spice rub for soup

Purchase cheese

Purchase wine
Purchase remaining ingredients
Assign recipes
Take tickets at The Clyde
Kids arrive around 10 pm!!!

Wednesday
Haircut at 9am
Make pies
Dry turkey
Make mashed potatoes
Set table
Pizza and movie with the kids
11pm - Turkey goes into the RO for 30 mins, then into the SO

Thursday
Remove pumpkin cake rolls from freezer to thaw
Make soup
Remember to take photos of all the food!

This year I've hit upon a brilliant idea to get help with all the food. I'm going to assign each dish to one or two people and let them make it for me! I'll have the ingredients all ready to go, give them the recipe and their timetable, and let them have at it. Is that not the best idea I've had in ages?

It gets even better - I'm ahead of schedule!

Gordon Gets Saucy

2009-11-22T12:15:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was another highly-satisfactory cooking class with Gordon Stewart of Gordon's on Blueberrry Hill in Freeland. The topic of the day was sauces. This class was a bit more disjointed than others of his I have attended. He gave us recipes for five 'mother sauces' and then proceeded to make 4 courses using some of the sauces as his base. He jumped around quite a bit and there were no recipes for the dishes he made as well as no quantities on ingredients. I did my best to take notes and hopefully I didn't miss too many details.

We were introduced to Gordon's new intern Tim, who plans to intern with Gordon for two years and then have his own cooking show on tv. Ah, the optimism of youth!

So the five 'mother' sauces we were given recipes for are bechamel, espagnole, hollandaise, mayonnaise, and veloute. I won't bother to reprint all those recipes here; they are pretty basic. I will tell you what Gordon does with some of them. He's a very creative guy and his presentations are a delight.

The first sauce he covered was mayonnaise, which he calls the 'devil's condiment.' This is Julia Child's basic mayo recipe. Gordon uses apple cider vinegar in place of the wine vinegar/lemon juice. He also recommends a mixture of canola oil and olive oil. He said is you use 100% evoo, it'll be too bitter. He uses 2-4 T of boiling water and he adds it at the ends of step 2, before adding the oil. When you add the water, it reduces the chance of the sauce breaking on you as you add the oil and you don't have to be so ultra careful when adding in the oil.

Purists may cringe at this, but as Gordon mentioned, there were no food police at the class so he was allowed to break any rule he felt like! I'm a born rule breaker. One of my mottos since birth has been 'rules are made to be broken.' I suppose this is one of the reasons I adore Gordon.

So that is basically what he told us about mayonnaise. He then proceeded to make an aioli from it (mayo with garlic added) and turned that into a salad dressing for this delicious salad:

My convoluted notes on how to make this salad: grapefruit sections with the pith removed, arugula, watercress, lobster tails. Add some tarragon and chopped fennel bulb to the aoili. Mix everything together, set half a grapefruit shell on a small bed of undressed greens, put the salad in the grapefruit cup, and top with toasted sundried tomato tortilla strips.

To cook the lobster tails, he recommends warm water lobster as it is less expensive, remove the shells (but save them for a fish stock and other uses), soak the tails in a mixture of milk and water (proportions aren't important) for a few hours, then cook it in the same mixture. When it comes to a boil, it's done. Add ice, let it cool, and then it's ready to use.

I'll tell you right now: I don't like mayo, and I don't like arugula and things like watercress. This was delicious. I cleaned my plate. Okay, I didn't eat the grapefruit shell. But it was really good and it'd make a great first course for a spring dinner party, a special luncheon, or any holiday meal.

So that was yummy. I was dying to know what came next. Usually we have the recipes in front of us so I can anticipate what is coming up. But yesterday we had to wait until he made each item to see where he was going. Except for dessert. We knew it was going to be creme brulee. We just didn't know what Gordon was going to do with it. He is so clever!

Okay, next he made two things at once and it all got very confusing trying to keep the notes on the correct page. In an attempt to be clear, I'll just do one at a time.

Let's start with the cauliflower gratin. Oh, no, another food I don't like! Obviously Gordon forgot to consult with me!! Actually, once many years ago, in another cooking class in Burlingame, California, I had cauliflower au gratin and it was really good. I decided I did like cauliflower if it was smothered in cheese. Gordon's was a bit different from that other long-ago dish I had. (Which I did actually make once but it wasn't a big hit with the picky family and at that time I was still trying to please everyone. Well, those days are long over. Maybe we'll have it again tonight...)

Here is Gordon's bechamel sauce recipe because I think it may be different from others I have seen and tried:

Bechamel

5 T butter
4 T sifted all-purpose flour
4 cups milk heated
2 t salt
pinch freshly grated nutmeg
whole white onion (peeled and spiked with 5 whole cloves)

Make a blond roux:
1. Pour the 4 cups of milk into a sauce pan, add a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg and the spiked onion. Remove from heat when the milk has scalded (or overflows from the pan, as was the case in class yesterday. I love it - Gordon has exactly the same cooking techniques as I do!)

2. While the milk is heating up, melt 5 T butter in a saucier pan.

3. Whisk in the 4 T of sifted flour and cook until the flour emits mild nutty aromas.

4. Pour the scalded milk into the saucier pan containing the blond roux. The sauce will thicken immediately.

5. Continue cooking the sauce on a low heat until the desired consistency is reached and then add the salt and pepper to taste.

Now to make the cauliflower gratin - blanch the cauliflower, break or cut it up into pieces and add it to the bechamel. Use the onion from the bechamel (remove the cloves) and chop it up into bite sized pieces; add it to the bechamel. Season with salt and pepper. Fill your gratin dish (or dishes plural if doing individual portions) and top with grated aged cheddar. Into the oven at about 250 - 300 degrees for 30-45 minutes. You want it to just be getting that nice browned look on top. Then garnish with fried sage and fried pancetta. You can fry up the pancetta slowly and then use the drippings to fry the sage.

This was yummy. This was really yummy. You can do it all ahead, except for the last baking bit. So it'd be great for a dinner party. I LOVE do-ahead dishes. Especially ones that taste fabulous and make me look like a good cook!

One of the women at my table said her husband wouldn't eat cauliflower but if she told him it was au gratin potatoes he wouldn't know the difference and would eat it all up. So this is a good one for sneaking the veggies in on the family!

Okay, on to the next dish. Next he made a soup, sort of a lobster bisque. He started with the veloute, which is basically thickened stock.

Veloute

2 cups of chicken, fish, or veal stock
4 T flour
4 T butter
salt and pepper

1. Make a brown roux
2. Add the desired stock
3. Add the salt and pepper once the desired consistency is reached.

To make the bisque, he used the shell from the lobster tail (remember, I told you to save it) and sauteed it in hot oil. He saved the oil to use on top of the soup and also to use in the aioli he made for the grapefruit/lobster salad up above.

He made a mirepoix, which is carrots, onions, and celery (roughly chopped as it will be strained out) sauteed in oil.

Here's where it got confusing as he was going back and forth so fast. But he used some of the fennel tops, bay leaves, cold water, and tomato paste. He added all that to the veloute, I think. He said to always start out with cold water, or cold stock (you can use chicken stock for all or part of the water), as it gives the best flavors when making a stock.

He also said the more you cook a roux, the less thickening power it'll have. So if you want it dark, add tomato paste instead of continuing to cook it. So I think he used all the above to make a thick soup/stock and then strained it. Then he added jerusalem artichokes which had been chopped and sauteed. That was basically the soup except that I think somewhere along the line he must have put in some of the oil the lobster had been sauteed in because you could really taste the lobster and I don't think it was from only the drizzle on top. On top of the soup he garnished with chopped chives, lobster oil, cream, and a bit of spinach which had been flash-cooked in a little bit of oil and salt and pepper.

So not a real clear recipe to follow but it sure was yummy!

Then on to dessert. Here's his basic creme brulee recipe:

Creme Brulee

8 whole eggs
4 egg yolks
2 quarts heavy cream (or you can use half n half or milk*)
1 cup sugar
1 t vanilla extract

*Gordon says, "You get out of a recipe directly in proportion to the ingredients you use." Gwen says, "Fat is what they put in food to make it taste good."

Directions:
1. Heat the cream until it scalds. Then add the vanilla extract. (During this process one could infuse the cream with additional flavors.) I think personally I might just heat the cream with a vanilla bean in it and not use extract.

2. Before the heavy cream scalds, whisk the eggs and egg yolks with sugar until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is pale yellow and thick.

3 Temper the egg mixture with the heavy cream.

4 Strain the mixture and pour into ramekins.

5 Put into a water bath, cover with foil, and cook at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour, just until the custard is setting. Cool and then remove from water bath.

6 Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days. Before serving, top with sugar and use the torch.

Now here's where Gordon got interesting. He said you could flavor the custard with pretty much anything you wanted to. He gave us 3 ideas:

Fresh cranberries cooked down with candied crystalized ginger and a teeny bit of sugar. You can strain this out first if you want the custard smooth. Top with the crystalized ginger.

For a pumpkin spice creme brulee, add about 1 cup of canned pumpkin, some nutmeg and cinnamon. Top with toasted pumpkin seeds.

For an aztec chocolate creme brulee, add 1-1/2 cups chopped bittersweet chocolate to the hot mixture (it'll all melt in nicely) and some cayenne and cinnamon. Top with crushed candy canes.

Now we're all wondering which one Gordon is going to serve us. Being the nice guy he is, we got all three!

Each person had 3 little spoons filled with these 3 variations. He had gone to Chinatown and bought up some of those spoons they use to serve soup with in Chinese restaurants and he used those. It was a fabulous presentation. I can see this on a holiday buffet table. I would be soooo impressed if I walked into a party with these. I don't know how they would hold up to sitting out very long, but it was really a pretty spectacular ending to the class!

"There is no sauce in the world like hunger."

Snips and Snails

2009-11-18T11:26:00.000-08:00

I was talking to my sister on the phone yesterday. She told me that when she picked up her 4yo son Tristyn from preschool, she noticed little red splotches and bits of woody-looking things on his face and mouth and gums. She said, "Tristyn, what happened to you?"

He replied, "My teacher told me not to run with my eyes closed anymore. I ran into a tree."

Hilarious! Don't you just love little boys? I so miss this age. Not that I don't love my all-growed-up boys, but there is something so dear about the little ones. I wish she had asked him, "Why were you running with your eyes closed?" because I'm sure the answer would have been entertaining.

WHEN THE FROST(ING) IS ON THE PUNKIN (BREAD)

2009-11-16T19:41:00.000-08:00

This weekend, while playing around on the computer and looking at various cooking sites, I came across a food blog with a baking challenge to bake all the recipes in a new cookbook featuring no-knead breads. The book is called Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. They plan to start the challenge in January, but to keep things interesting are doing trial runs in November and December.

The November recipe is for Pumpkin Pie Brioche. So I decided it sounds yummy and why not give it a go. Plus you know what a big fan I am of Jim Lahey's original NY Times No-Knead Bread recipe. I could use a few more good no-knead recipes in my repertoire. I think our friends are getting tired of the same old delicious home-made bread every time they come over. (Not!) I also thought it would be a good time to break in my new measuring spoons my sister got me for my birthday last week. They have chickens on them!

The PPB dough has to sit in the fridge overnight, so I made it up last night. It was super easy to make. I used my Kitchen Aid, being the lazy person I am. I was glad I didn't double the recipe as I had originally considered. The basic recipe pretty much filled the KA up. I used canned pumpkin and melted butter. I also doubled the spices, as so many others had recommended. I think the original recipe sounds good, too, just much more subtle in flavor. But because of the variations I planned to try, I wanted the full-blown pumpkin spice flavor to shine through.

The dough ends up with that shaggy look that you'd expect from a no-knead bread dough.

After I got it in the fridge, I looked at some of the sites where others had made it and was really impressed by how creative everyone had gotten. So many great ideas to steal!!! While I really liked the idea of using cream cheese in some way (pumpkin and sweetened cream cheese is a super combo), I couldn't get the idea of pumpkin and chocolate out of my head. Trust me to turn a 'healthy bread' recipe into something fattening. As I always say, "Fat is what they put into food to make it taste good," so I decided to go with some Mini Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins for my first recipe. I topped them with the streusel topping from the Big Black Dog site . I made a dozen, 9 with the streusel and 3 without. I have to say that I prefer them with the streusel. No surprise there. Here's the recipe for the muffins:

Mini Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Mix about 10 oz of the Pumpkin Pie Brioche dough and a handful of chocolate chips together. I sort of kneaded the chips into the dough.

I sprayed a mini muffin pan with some of that cooking spray in a can (which I really hate to use, it creeps me out, but again with the laziness) and divided the dough up into 12 pieces, which I put into the muffin pan. Then I topped with the streusel. I still have lots of streusel left over, but I have plans for that later today!

I left the pan to rise for about an hour. Basically I waited til they looked like they had risen enough, and that was about an hour.

Then into the center of the Baking Oven (350 degrees) for 15 minutes, turning the pan halfway through. After 15 minutes, Mr. Toothpick said they were perfect.

Now all I had to do was wait as long as I could for them to cool off before popping one into my mouth. I lasted maybe 5 minutes. They are delish! Especially the ones with the streusel. They're tiny; easy to just pop into your mouth in quick succession. I think I'll make them when the college kids arrive next week. (Next Wednesday, our two sons will be arriving home from college and bringing with them Jeff's girlfriend Danielle as well as two other girls. Other college kids home on the break will undoubtedly come by. I can't wait to have a houseful of noisy hungry kids around.)

I figured I should do up one batch as a loaf. This way I could try the french toast others have posted and makes my mouth water every time I see it, as well as make Jesse some cinnamon and sugar toast when he comes home from school today. He's such a picky eater. I don't think he'd ever try the bread on its own, but he does love cinnamon and sugar toast!

So I plunked down 2 pounds of the dough into a greased loaf pan and set it to rise for the recommended time of 90 minutes. Then the egg wash, sprinkled with some sugar, and then into the Baking Oven (350 degrees) for 45 minutes, turning halfway through. Pulled it out at 2:30 and let it cool. It was ready just in time for Jesse getting home from school.

Of course he wouldn't eat it. But I did and it was really good. It was so good, I forgot to take a photo of the C&S toast before I ate it!

The rest of that dough was still in the fridge, calling out to me. The cream cheese was also calling out to me. Not to mention the remainder of the streusel. I tried to ignore them, but they kept on calling, then shouting. There was such a din, I couldn't hear myself think. I knew what had to be done. In fact, I had known it as soon as I saw those photos on the other sites...

Pumpkin Pie Cinnamon Rolls. With Frosting. (Is there any other way?)

Using the remainder of the Pumpkin Pie Brioche dough, which ended up being 2.4 pounds, I rolled it out into a rectangle. I spread it with softened butter. Then I sprinkled the leftover streusel topping evenly over the butter.

I rolled it up lengthwise, using a spatula to help me scrape the sticky parts up...

...cut it into about 1-1/2 inch pieces, and placed them cut side up in a greased baking pan, which was really too big for the amount of rolls I had, but I didn't want to dirty up another pan. I figured they would rise and fill in more of the pan. (Or I could just fill in those spaces with frosting.)

Covered with a towel and left for a 90-minute rise. They rose and filled in the pan nicely.

Into the Baking Oven (350 degrees) for about 20 minutes. While they were baking, I mixed up my cream cheese frosting (4 oz cream cheese, 3 T butter, 1-1/2 cups powdered sugar, 1 t lemon juice, and a capful of vanilla). I spread the frosting over the still-warm cinnamon rolls. I gained 3 pounds just looking at them. Okay, so maybe it didn't end up to be exactly healthy bread in five minutes--it's good, though!

Can you say yum?

Thoughts on this recipe: I wish the ingredient quantities had been in weights. I find it easier to weigh out flour than to measure in a cup. This is really my only complaint.

I like that I could make a batch of this dough--and it made a lot!--put it in the fridge, and then leave it until I wanted to do something with it. I love that the dough is so versatile and can be used for so many things, both savory and sweet. I'm sure I haven't even begun to tap the possibilities.

Would I make this again? I would definitely make the Mini Muffins. They were super easy to make and quite a yummy treat to have on hand. If you had a few of the muffin tins, you could make a bunch of these quickly. I still plan to try making the sliced loaf into french toast tomorrow morning. I think it would make a nice brunch dish. It certainly made great C&S toast. I'm thinking that it would also make a nice sandwich with Sonoma Chicken Salad on top of a toasted slice. I probably would not go to the trouble of making them into cinnamon rolls again. While very tasty, they're over-the-top filling, and I think I'd prefer to spend my time making, and eating, regular cinnamon rolls.

So I'm very happy to have a new no-knead recipe, and I'm looking forward to December's recipe!

“Men are like pumpkins. It seems like all the good ones are either taken or they've had everything scraped out of their heads with a spoon.”

An Afternoon with Nancy Pearl

2009-11-10T16:31:00.000-08:00

Today was my yearly 'date' with Nancy Pearl. If you don't know who Nancy Pearl is, she's a retired Seattle librarian who travels the world giving book talks on the best books to read. Nancy's recommendations are generally not your run-of-the-mill bestsellers and books you'd find on other lists. Nancy's books are usually a little less known and a little more quirky. Nancy is the only librarian I know of who has her very own action figure.

Of course I have one -- autographed.

Nancy comes over to Whidbey Island every November and gives our book-loving community a talk on her latest favorites. But first I usually get to go out to lunch with Nancy, which is just a lot of fun. The Friends of the Langley Library sponsors her yearly visit, and being on the Friends board, I'm one of the lucky ones who gets to take Nancy out to lunch before her talk. Here we are this afternoon, after lunch and on our way to the book talk.

Here are this year's book recommendations by Nancy. I raced home and put a number of them on hold at our library. And one I even already have sitting on my tbr shelf! Without further ado, here are the titles, with the authors in parens. Oh, and I should mention, some of these books are YA (young adult) books and some are picture books for young children. Nancy is an equal-opportunity reviewer.

Big Rabbit's Bad Mood (Badescu)
The Anthologist (Baker)
Beat the Reaper (Bazell)
Manual of Detection (Berry)
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Bradley)
Little Bee (Cleave)
The Hunger Games (Collins) as well as its sequel, Catching Fire
Narrow Dog to Indian River (Darlington)
The Missing (Gautreaux)
The Photographer (Guibert)
Living Witness (Haddam)
After the Profit (Hazelton)
The Gone Away World (Harkaway)
Strength in What Remains (Kidder)
The Family Man (Lipman)
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks (Lockhart)
Border Songs (Lynch)
Buggle Trouble (Mahy)
The City and the City (Mieville)
Dancing to the Precipice: The Life of Lucie de la Tour du Pin, Eyewitnes to an Era (Moorehead)
The Silver Linings Playbook (Quick)
Revelation (Sansom)
Stitches (Small)
When Wanderers Cease to Roam (Smith)
When You Reach Me (Stead)
The Tourist (Steinihauer)
Olive Kitteridge (Strout)
Love and Summer (Trevor)
You'll Never Know: A Good and Decent Man (Tyler)

Normally I have read a least a couple of Nancy book picks. This year I have only read one of them, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I do have the sequel on hold at the library. Unfortunately, it was just released in hardback and I think I'm number 3548 on the wait list, so it could be a while for that one!

I loved The Hunger Games. The Hunger Games takes place in an unidentified future time period after the destruction of North America, in a nation known as Panem. Panem consists of a rich Capitol and twelve surrounding, poorer districts. As punishment for a previous rebellion against the Capitol, every year one boy and one girl from each district are forced to participate in "The Hunger Games," a televised event where the participants must fight to the death in an arena until only one remains. The story follows 16-year-old Katniss, a girl from District 12 who volunteers for the Games in place of her younger sister, Primrose. Also participating from District 12 is Peeta, a boy whom Katniss knows from school and who once gave Katniss bread and risked a beating when her family was starving.

The plot kind of reminds me of The Running Game, which I enjoyed as a movie, but this book is way better. It's in the 'can't put it down' category, and even though the plot is horrifying, the book is entertaining and fascinating. This is book one in a trilogy and I'm really looking forward to seeing where the author will go with this series.

I love sci fi and although my first love is any book involving time travel, I also enjoy the stories set in alternative and post-apocalyptic worlds, especially in the young adult category. Other similar books I've liked recently are The Host by Stephanie Meyers and the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld.

Septuplets...Diary of a First-Time Chicken Mom

2009-07-01T11:19:00.000-07:00

5:30 am – Alarm goes off, rise and shine, why did I ever think this was a good idea?

Throw on some blue jeans, tennis shoes, sweater over my jammy top.

Clean off the top of the dog crate, carry it into the kitchen, and begin preparations to turn it into a chicken brooder.

Vacuum and wipe it out – check

Pine shavings – check

Covered with paper towels – check

Make up water solution of water, electrolyte/vitamin mix, and apple cider vinegar. Notice it looks a lot like lemonade. Make mental note to alert family.

Fill water dish – check

Fill feeder – check

Scatter some feed on the paper towels – check

Hang heat lamp – check – wait, not check, there's no clamp on this stupid thing! Wrap the cord around a kitchen chair til it's the right height – check

Go outside to get chicken wire to cover the brooder – check

Come back inside, put the chicken wire in place, check the phone to see if anyone has called – check

6:35 am – Still no phone call from the Post Office – where are they?!?!?

Go back outside to get another piece of chicken wire, 2 pieces wasn’t enough, is that the phone I hear ringing?, listen harder, no, it's not – check

Come back inside to put 3rd piece of chicken wire in place – check

Check phone for messages again – beep beep beep – it was a phone call, there's a message! Could it be? Who else would be phoning at 6:44 in the morning?!?!?

Get in the car to drive to Post Office. Make a mental note to turn on the heater once the car is warmed up so it'll be nice and toasty for the chicks.

Get halfway there and realize I should have brought camera to take a photo of the chicks with their 'delivery nurse.' Consider turning around and going back. Decide against it.

Glance at speedometer. Three miles over the speed limit. Put the car on cruise control.

Arrive at Post Office and knock on blue door. Here they come!

Cheeping is not as loud as I expected. Are they all there? Open box to count them – yup, septuplets, just as planned.

Belt them into the front seat for the ride home. 2 points for being such a good chicken mommy.

Drive home with cruise control. Cheeping is very loud now. Sort of annoying in fact.

Arrive home, get out to open front gate, and realize I never turned the heater on. Deduct 2 points. Turn the heater on full blast for the final 100 feet to the driveway.

Carry the chicks into the house and set their box into the brooder. Get a clean soft rag and turn on the water to get it warm in case of pasty butt.

Start taking the chicks out of their box one by one, dipping their beaks in water, and checking for pasty butt. Discover chicks don't really like to be turned upside down.

They are very soft! No signs up pasty butt. All looks good.

Oh, wait, the last chick has a small case of pasty butt. Dab at it with warm water. Finally just pick it off with my fingernail. Smear a bit of Vaseline on her butt in case it happens again, it'll be easier to get off.

Put last chick into the brooder, get rid of shipping box, and wash my hands.

Go sit down in chair to look at chicks. Discover something under my fingernail. Wash hands again. Return to chair.

Look at chicks. Try and figure out which chick is which breed. Seven chicks, six breeds. Figure out which two are the buff orpringtons. I'm practically an expert.

Bring the dogs in to see the chickens. They are very interested. Too interested. Make them 'sit' when they are near brooder.

Attempt to take some photos. Discover chicks are even more uncooperative then children when it comes to posing. Give up after a few blurry photos of chicken behinds.

Take one of the dogs instead. Their eyes are glued to the chicks. No evidence of drooling or lip licking. Take that as a good sign.

Wonder why the chicks aren't taking any naps. Thought they napped often in between running around and pecking. Notice no sign of chicken poop. Maybe they are potty trained!

Watch chicks as they explore their brooder and interact with each other. Begin to feel the effects of early rising. Make cup of hot chocolate.

Back into chair to watch chicks some more. Still no poop. What great chickens! I love having chickens!

Oh, no, one of them is flopped on its side with its head on the towel. Is it dead? No, it's moving. Its little butt is swaying back and forth. I didn't know chickens laid their heads down. So cute!

Keep watching that chicken to make sure it's okay. It eventually gets up and wanders around. Another chick flops itself down for a quick nap.

Oh, dear, first sign of poop. I wonder which one did that. One out of seven not potty trained. Guess that isn't so bad.

Look around for something to do in the kitchen. Empty dish drainer. Come back to chair. Lots more poop. Sigh.

Phone rings. Husband is calling to say he forgot to take the garbage can out to the road. Today is pickup day. Can I do it? And put the kitchen garbage in there as well. Agree to do so and hang up quickly before he can hear chickens cheeping in the background and realize that after ten years of listening to me talk about chickens, the day he's been dreading has finally arrived. It's a beautiful day out. No sense spoiling it for him any sooner than necessary.

Close bedroom door to shut cat inside in case he decides to wake up from his nap on the middle of our bed. Get kitchen garbage and close kitchen door with the dogs on the outside. Take garbage out to the road. Come back inside. Count chickens and check to make sure they're all moving. The chicks and I have both survived their first time alone without a babysitter!

Ina B and Nina C, the buff orpingtons

Kenzie & Buddy are a rapt audience.

The chickies are lucky to have such great guard dogs!

Gracie in the center flanked by two as-yet-unnamed chickies.

I Left My Heart

2008-11-24T08:08:00.000-08:00

I recently took a trip down to the SF Bay Area to meet up with some friends. I hooked a visit with my family onto each end and had a good time with my mom and sisters. There was a lot of eating out on this trip, so I'll be doing some restaurant reviews here!

I flew Alaska; they're one of my favorite airlines. I've never had a bad flight with them. My sister picked me up on Saturday afternoon and we stopped by their house (she and her family live with my mom), dropped off my luggage, admired her Halloween decorations (the house looked great), and then headed to the movies with her kids, Sawyer and Tristyn. Her husband, Chris, was already there saving us seats. Cuz you know how many people were just dying to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua! It actually wasn't too bad. And the gardener—excuse me, I mean landscaper, was easy on the eyes. We ate dinner at home that night; Jan made Chinese chicken salad and we ordered egg rolls, rice, and crab puffs to go along with it. Yummy! After we got the kids settled in bed, Jan and I watched 27 Dresses on dvd. I like that movie a lot, but I think it gets really too silly at the end when she runs on the boat and takes over the mic at someone else's wedding. It's embarrassing really. I wish they had figured out something else for the ending.

Sunday we took the kids over to the Pumpkin Farm in Half Moon Bay. It hasn't changed much over the years, except it gets more crowded every year. Sunday night Jan, my mom, and I went out to dinner at Kingfish, a restaurant in San Mateo. I had a filet, and it was okay. Not great but not bad either. Sunday's movie was Hitch. I love Will Smith and he's great in this one.

Monday mom and I did some errands, and then after the kids got out of school, we all went out to Half Moon Bay for their swim lessons. They are both great little swimmers. I don't know too many 7-year-olds who can do the butterfly! We had reservations at Pasta Moon, on the other end of Main Street, so I walked down while the kids got dried off and dressed. I had enough time to browse in a great little bookstore next door which I read this morning is for sale! It's one of the better small-town bookstores I've been in. I picked up The Good Thief as I had recently read some good reviews. I'm a few chapters in and enjoying it very much.

Dinner at Pasta Moon was a mix. If you are a party of 6 or more, you have to reserve in advance with a credit card. That was a new one for me. Also, they automatically include an 18% tip. The service was terrible. I guess they figure they already have the tip. They didn't even come to take a drink order. They never checked back to see if you needed anything, and since they don't put salt and pepper on any of their dining tables, it's a sure bet at least one person at the table is going to want that! I was definitely not impressed with the service. The food was a little better. My butternut squash raviolis were very good with the exception of being too oily. Or maybe it was butter. At any rate, they were swimming in it, and I noticed that every single plate ordered at our table had an excess of oil. Too bad because the raviolis would have been perfect without that. They were topped with amaretti. Amaretti what I have no idea, but it was sweet and a nice addition to the raviolis.

Monday night's movie was Casino Royale. Daniel Craig—need I say more?

On Tuesday afternoon, Jan and I worked a shift at the Dickens House in Hillsborough, a holiday house which benefits St. Matthew's Episcopal Day School, where Sawyer is in 2nd grade. Each family has to contribute 30 hours toward that project, so my 3 hours helped out a little.

Tuesday night I was in charge of dinner, and I made my 'harvest medley' meal, which everyone enjoyed even though the snowpeas were quite overdone. Jan and I watched My Fellow Americans, with Jack Lemmon and James Garner, which I had never seen. It's a very funny movie and I highly recommend it.

On Wednesday I went down to Stanford Mall and met up with Jena, one of my friends coming in for the SF trip. Jena's from Nebraska and came in early to stay with her sister in San Jose. We shopped around the mall a bit (it changes every time I go there, but I still think it's the prettiest mall I've ever seen), and then met Jan back at the house so she could take Jena and I up to SF.

We checked into our hotel, The Handlery, and after a snafu on the room type (I had only made the reservations 6 months or more in advance and called them easily 8 times to confirm things, so one can understand how they could make a mistake so easily), we got situated in our room and then headed out to North Beach to see Beach Blanket Babylon. I've seen it before, but because they constantly update the show with current affairs, it's always fun to see again. It was nonstop laughing from beginning to end, and we just loved it. We ate at Calzone's in North Beach afterward and had a nice outdoor dinner under some heat lamps. My lasagna was so-so. It was very meaty. I think they mix beef and sausage because it tasted 'heavier' than just beef. But we had fun and the service is great there.

Thursday morning Jena and I walked around Union Square. I was disappointed to see that Gump's had moved and in the process changed quite a bit from when I used to go there. Very high end now and they really didn't have anything I couldn't live without. I hate it when that happens.

Around noontime Jenny (Ohio) and Paula (Texas) arrived from the airport. We went out to Kuleto's for lunch, on Powell just around the corner from our hotel. Jan had given us a lot of restaurant recommendations. They lived in the City for quite a while before moving in with my mom. I had soup and it was excellent. At the end of our trip, we all agreed that that meal was the best we had in the City. I wished I had gotten something more substantial than soup!

We took a cable car out to Fisherman's Wharf and hung out at Pier 39 for a bit.

Then we headed off for the Alcatraz night tour. I had never been to Alcatraz before (it's amazing how you can live somewhere for 45 years and never do any of the touristy things!), and it was great. The tour itself is very well done, beginning with interesting tour guides and then moving into a self-paced tour with headphones. The only thing we didn't like is that the narration has a lot of background noises to make it seem realistic—like gun shots, fighting sounds, cell doors clanging—and we all thought that was a bit much. The views looking back at the City with all the lights was just stunning. It was pretty late when we got back so we dashed over to Calzone's again, since we knew it would still be open at 10pm. This time I had shrimp and tomatoes over pasta and it was not really very flavorful. But again the service was great, as was the pinot grigio I had. And of course the company was divine.

Friday was our much-anticipated limo tour to Napa to go wine tasting. It did not disappoint. We took the Bay Bridge route, stopping at Starbucks along the way for coffee. Our first stop was Domaine Chandon. I did not personally care for any of their wines. but the other girls liked them. I also didn't care for the fact that they really push their wine club on you.

Our next stop was recommended by our limo driver, and it was Peju Winery. This was our favorite of the day, not only because their wines were delish, but also because we had a great tasting guide, Allen.

After pouring the second wine, Allen broke out in quite a long rap song about the wine, complete with motions and sound effects. Highly entertaining. He had a poem ready to go with the third wine, which he energetically recited. It was great fun.

The tasting rooms are housed in a beautiful building, and their gift shop is the best one I've seen in any winery I've been in – great selection of pottery and cookbooks. I exercised great control and escaped with only two cookbooks.

We picked up sandwiches at a deli our limo driver recommended, and I wish I could remember the name of the place. It was a grocery store and was really an excellent high-end store with wonderful picnic choices. We ate our sandwiches in the limo as we drove so as not to waste valuable drinking time.

Next we headed to St. Clement as I am very fond of their wines and needed to pick up a few to bring home. They were delicious as usual.

Our next and final stop was Sterling. Beautiful views from the top of the tram and consistent good quality wines.

Now it was time to head back to the City. Our driver raced back hoping we would get to Cline Winery before it closed, but alas it was not to be. We drove back to the City over Golden Gate Bridge and enjoyed the views.

For dinner we decided to go out to Ghirardelli Square, to McCormick and Kuleto's. I think this must be somehow connected with the Kuleto's we had lunch at on Union Square. We had a wonderful window table with great views. I had parmesan-crusted sole, which was a bit overcooked. Plus the coating was too heavy for the sole. But since I don't find sole on too many menus, I enjoyed it. My green beans were way undercooked and unfortunately I only had a few slivers of some excellent carrots, by far the tastiest thing on the plate.

The taxi ride home was hands down the wildest taxi ride I've ever taken. Jena had remarked on one of the hills as we went down it. The driver said, "Oh, are you from someplace flat?" Jena said, "You can't get much flatter than Nebraska." So I guess he decided to give us a thrill. There were two more hills in succession with a flat cross-street in between. He gunned it down the first hill, bottomed out on the flat portion, and flew down the second hill. I was laughing so hard, my stomach was in extreme pain. We all were. This only egged him on to drive faster. We arrived back at the hotel in record time. He told us we were the most fun he'd had all night!

Saturday morning I got up and walked down to the Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building. It was amazing. Hundreds of stalls with every kind of food imaginable. I found some Italian Bombolini and I could be happy just eating bombolinis the rest of my life and nothing else. A little sugar donuty kind of ball with custard in the center. It was heaven.

I then met the rest of the girls and we took a bus out to Chrissy Field. It just happened to be Fleet Week. Hey sailor. We sat on the wall there and watched the Blue Angels perform. It was a beautiful day. In fact, the entire trip was graced with gorgeous fall weather. I couldn't have asked for anything better.

We took the bus back to Union Square and had a late lunch/early dinner at The Cheesecake Factory at the top of Macy's. I had a Kobe burger and don't understand what the big thrill about kobe beef is. It tasted just like any other good burger I've ever had. It was good though. We spent the rest of the evening sitting around the pool yakking.

Sunday we didn't really do too much. We hung around the hotel, walked around Union Square, went into Barney's, bought some souvenirs (not in Barney's!), etc. We went out to Fuzio's on Castro Street for dinner and were befriended by two very funny guys at the table next to us, drank way too many watermelon martinis and discovered Jenny could tie a cherry stem into a knot with her tongue in under 10 seconds! Jena could also perform this amazing feat but it took her considerably longer (10 minutes).

It was a memorable meal. I had chicken marsala, not very good at all. Jena had mac and cheese, which was more like a pasta dish than plain mac and cheese, and it was really good. I should have gotten that. My garlic and parmesan focaccia bread was really good. I could go for an order of that bread and one of those watermelon martinis right now, in fact.

Monday we ate breakfast at Lefty O'Doul's at Union Square and then headed back to the airport. The girls flew back to their (flat) states and Chris picked me up to take me back to mom's for one more night. Jan made a delicious pasta dish and even more yummy margarita's. The best meals on the trip were the homemade ones. Jan should open a restaurant.

All in all, the trip was great fun. It had been a long time in the planning and flew by. It's hard to believe it's behind us now and not something we're still looking forward to. Oh, well, guess it's time to start planning the next trip!

Gordon Gets Cooking

2008-11-23T11:02:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had the good fortune to attend a cooking class at Gordon's on Blueberry Hill in Freeland. I had read in the paper a few weeks ago that there was to be a class and when I called to reserve a spot, they were full and I had to get on the waiting list. Friday I got a call asking if I was still interested – YES! So at a few minutes before 11, I walked in the door looking forward to some good food served up with a helping of fun.

I've attended many cooking classes in my lifetime, so I had a preconceived notion of how this would work – and was way off. This was more like a long lunch while you watched the chef cook. Tables were set up as normal in the restaurant except that the center was cleared out and a long table for the cooking demo was along one side. The restaurant is small enough that every table had a good view of Gordon's cooking station.

We started off with Ginger Chili Marinated Prawns (which also included Deer Creek oysters). While the food we would be served was being prepared and plated in the kitchen (there seemed to be about 40 of us), Gordon demonstrated making a small portion. He is quite the showman and very entertaining, with a great sense of humor. Oh, he is also a fabulous cook. His restaurant is one of my favorite restaurants in the world and I'm lucky enough to live 15 minutes away!

We learned how to shuck oysters and also not to wash or rinse them as the flavor of the brine is what oysters are all about.

The presentation for this first dish was stunning – a cantaloupe cut in half, scooped out, filled with a sauce, the oysters arranged on the cut edges of the cantaloupe and the prawns around the outside, garnished with cilantro, lemon and lime wedges, and a pepper flower. I had taken a camera with me, but alas, the batteries were dead. Gordon's presentations are outstanding.

Gordon had teamed up with a wine salesman for this class and so we got some wine education along with the cooking demos. This first course was paired with Whidbey Island Winery Siegerrebe, a spicy white wine that was 'crisp and cleansing, not bone dry, with a whiff of sweetness," and an excellent pairing with oysters.

Our next course was comprised of Peppercorn Encrusted Sirloin and Parsnip Potato Mash – yummy! The steak featured a blueberry sauce that was to die for; the veggie included roasted garlic and was drizzled with maple syrup. Unlike most cooking classes/demos, we did not get small portions to taste – each person was served full-size portions that included large steaks. And it was delicious.

The wine paired with this course, which was also used in the sauce, was a 2007 Doña Paula Malbec from Argentina – a big wine with a smooth finish that does not linger in the mouth which would interfere with the flavor of the steak.

Finally, our dessert, while titled Drunken Apple Sorbet with Cinnamon Crisp, is more accurately described as an apple sorbet served in a hollowed-out apple on a plate napped with pecan brandy caramel sauce (so tempting to lick the plate) with a cinnamon and sugar puff pastry alongside. The sorbet, which can be made from any fruit, also included Muscat wine, which was the wine served with this final course. I am not a fan at all of sweet dessert wines, but I loved this one – Marchesi Di Gresy La Serra Muscato D'Asti from Italy. It's just the kind of wine you want to linger over at the table, (while you wait until no one is looking so you can lick the plate).

All in all, a very fun way to spend three hours on a Saturday, and I can't wait until Gordon's next class.

Ginger Chili Marinated Prawns

18 large prawns peeled and deveined

1 cup Mapeloy chili sauce

lime juice from 2 limes

1/4 cup pickled ginger, chopped

1/2 cup green onions, chopped

2 T minded garlic

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

1 cup rice wine vinegar or mirin

1/4 cup sesame oil

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 cup orange juice

Sesame seeds for garnish

Put all the ingredient except for the prawns in a bowl. Set aside 1/2 cup of the marinade for dipping when you serve.

Add the peeled and deveined prawns to the rest of the mixture and marinate the prawns overnight in this.

The next day, heat a large empty saucepot to high heat. Add the marinade and prawns, bring it to a boil, and cook until the prawns have turned pink, approximately 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and mix in 2 quarts of ice. Cool in the fridge until ready to serve. This is a great do-ahead recipe. Serves 6. See above description for presentation in the cantelope.

Peppercorn Encrusted Sirloin

6 six oz sirloin steaks

3/4 oz olive oil

generous amount of cracked black pepper

truffle salt or steak seasoning

2 sprigs rosemary

1/4 cup of huckleberry jam or blueberry jam

1 sliced red onion

1 T minced garlic

1/2 cup malbec or port wine

1/4 cup strong beef bouillon or beef stock

3 T room temp butter to finish

Mix the pepper and seasonings and press them lightly onto the steaks. Don't press so much that it's going to overwhelm the wine.

Heat oil in a pan and add the sirloin. Sear for two to three minutes on each side. Remove the steaks.

Lower the heat to medium. Add more oil if needed. Add sliced onion and garlic to the pan and saute until the onions are slightly carmelized.

Deglaze the pan with the wine. Add jam, rosemary and bouillon and reduce by half. Remove the rosemary sprigs, add a few whole berries if you wish, and finish with the butter. Drizzle over the steaks and serve the remainder alongside the steaks.

Parsnip Potato Mash

5 - 6 peeled russet potatoes, cut up

6 medium peeled parsnips, cut up

5 T roasted garlic puree

1 cup heavy cream

6 - 8 T butter

salt and pepper to taste

maple syrup

Boil the potatoes and parsnips until tender.

In a separate pan, add the garlic, cream and butter and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper.

Drain the potatoes and parsnips and put them back into the pot. Add the cream mixture and whip it with a wire whisk until you reach your desired consistency.

The early bird gets the worm

2008-11-11T18:20:00.000-08:00

I decorated my first tree of the season today, at a decorating workshop I went to. This went in the master bath. Those of you who have been here might remember there are birdcages in there and it has sort of a 'bird' motif. Still needs the 'skirt' which will be some cool twiggy stuff I brought home and to tweak things a bit. Notice the brick holding it from falling over. The front is so heavily decorated and the back is empty since it's up against the wall. It stood up until I put that last little white bird you can see peaking out under the other bird's tail. Then it promptly pitched forward. The workshop was a lot of fun. It was an auction item I purchased last December and was donated by a local floral/interior designer, who is extremely talented. There were six of us decorating trees and wreaths and we all had a super fun time.

If It's Tuesday, I Must Be at The Clyde

2008-10-01T15:05:00.000-07:00

One of the best things about living in a small town is our small town movie theater, The Clyde. The Clyde shows one movie at a time and they switch it out twice a week. It costs $6 for adults to get in and you can get popcorn and soda pop for another $2. It's the last great deal in the United States. I absolutely love The Clyde. After we moved here, I couldn't wait to go to my first movie, which I did within the first week of moving here (although I don't remember what I saw).

The owners of The Clyde, Lynn and Blake Willeford, are great people. Not only do they go out of their way to keep The Clyde affordable and bring in the best movies, they do a lot for our community. Among other endeavors, they are active in Friends of Friends, Hearts & Hammers, and Fair University. This year they organized the first RainDance Film Festival. They are busy people!

The ticket takers are all 'volunteers.' In exchange for taking tickets one night a week, my family and I get into any and all movies, and I get a drink and popcorn, for free! If this isn't a deal, I don't know what is.

Sometimes I sub in the snack bar when one of the regular ladies needs a night off. This is great fun as it affords a longer opportunity to chat with people while they stand there and decide what to buy. We have our regulars. Bob always gets a large coke and a large popcorn. Billy likes his popcorn tamped down just so and refuses to take a straw with his drink. Many people are under the misguided impression that snack bar ladies are mind readers. "A medium soda, please." Then there are the kids who just cannot make up their minds. Faced with goodies galore, they stand there in a daze until forced to make their decision by an impatient parent or snack bar lady.

Tuesday nights are my night to take tickets and last night I saw Bottle Shock, a delightful movie about the Napa wineries in the mid '70s, most specifically Chateau Montelena, and the French/California 'Judgment of Paris' wine tasting that put California wines on the map. I was completely unaware of this event and the associated history, although I'm a California girl and have been to the wine country many times.

The movie was especially timely for me because I'm planning a trip to California next week and, along with 3 girlfriends, will be touring the Napa wine country in a private limo. I get giddy just thinking about it!

Bottle Shock has that great indie movie feel to it. I would be really interested to know how much is real and how much was made up for the movie. For instance, one would hope that Jim Barrett, owner of Chateau Montelena, is not such a crabby person. I hate to think one of my favorite wines is made by a crabby appleton. One also has to wonder why cute female intern Sam switched from the adorable Gustavo who had such a passion for wine to the badly-wigged Bo, slacker son/heir. Guess she's just a wine-ho! Alan Rickman is wonderful as Steven Spurrier, a British wine snob living in Paris, who organizes the blind tasting. He appeared to be enjoying himself tremendously in this role. Maybe the glasses had real wine in them! I whole-heartedly recommend this movie, followed by a glass of your favorite wine.

(After writing this, I found an interesting article online regarding the accuracy of the movie.. Guess even indie movies have to go a little bit Hollywood.)

Before tonight's showing, a local shop around the corner from the theater, The Chef's Pantry, will be recreating the taste-off with a blind tasting of Chateau Montelena Chardonnay and the best French Meursault. How fun is that?!?!?!

Smokin' in Seattle

2008-10-01T11:59:00.000-07:00

Photo courtesy of Mickey

Several years ago, while awaiting arrival of Dorothy, our Aga cooker, someone mentioned to me that there was a bbq I should look into that was the griller's equivalent of an Aga. It was called a Big Green Egg. Of course, I immediately had to investigate this oddly-named thing and learned that it was a ceramic Kamado-style bbq.


Here is Jim looking oh-so-excited about his new toy

One thing led to another and within fairly short order, Jim was receiving his very own Big Green Egg for Father's Day. Never mind that he had never even heard of it before, let alone requested such a gift. I needed one, which meant he needed one, and that is how Dimples, our large Big Green Egg, came to live with us.

The Big Green Egg has a terrific cult following which means a great online forum where all things Egg-related can be discussed at any hour of the day or night. Having a problem in the middle of your all-night pork cook and need some advice? No problem, there is guaranteed to be at least one 'egghead' up and online to help you out or commiserate or show off photos of what he cooked for dinner earlier that night.

Pulled pork cooked overnight on the Egg

The BGE, or simply Egg, is not just a cool bbq and smoker. It makes hands-down the best bbq I have ever tasted. What's more, it doesn't stop at bbqing and smoking. You can bake in it, stir fry in it, and if you get the extra-large, you can probably take a bath in it. I have personally made French toast, chocolate chip cookies, s'mores, mashed potatoes, bacon-wrapped tater tots, quesadillas, and asparagus and other assorted veggies. Sometimes we do meat on it too.


Bacon-wrapped tater tots from Eggfest 2007 - always a big hit!

Now although the Egg makes delicious food, that isn't even the best part about it. Whenever you have a lot of people conversing often online (and the BGE forum is very chatty), they will sooner or later start wanting to meet up in real life. This phenomenon had happened with the Eggheads long before I ever came upon the scene. In fact, they had been meeting up at Eggfests all across the country for 8 years when I stumbled in the door. There is the big main Eggtoberfest put on by and at the Mothership in Tucker, Georgia, every October. This was started back in '97. As time went on, smaller but no less enthusiastic Eggfests were started by just regular old eggheads, sometimes with the help of their local Egg dealers. The main gist of an Eggfest is that you get a dealer to sell a number of 'demo eggs' at a discount to anyone who is too cheap to shell out the full price. These Eggs are cooked on by anyone who wishes to do so and then the used-for-one-day Eggs are taken home by their happy new owners. In the meantime, for a fee, other people can attend and eat the food that is being cooked all day long at the Eggfest. The cooks get in free, thus saving between 25 and 50 dollars, and in exchange they get to slave away cooking food they have provided at their own expense often totaling in the hundreds of dollars.

Alas, there were no Eggfests in the Seattle area, nor anywhere in the Pacific Northwest, not even on the entire west coast. What was to be done? For a couple years, it was discussed often to start an Eggfest in the Seattle area. I was all for that. It got talked to death but no one was willing to take it on. I approached the dealer I had purchased my—I mean, Jim's Egg from, and they were not interested.

Another year went by and the subject came up again. Being the great organizer I am, I decided I would put on my own Eggfest. If I couldn't find a place to have it and a dealer to sponsor it, I would just end up inviting some fellow Eggheads in the general area over to our house for a bbq.

I put the word out on the forum that I was planning a PNW Eggfest. This apparently is all that was needed to get the ball rolling. The next thing I knew, I had dealers lined up insisting on being allowed to participate. Eventually w approached the local distributor, AES, who came on board and agreed to be our main sponsor. We ended up with 3 dealers on our team, a few having dropped out once they found out that they would be expected to actually put up some money and maybe do a little work. We held our first Pacific Northwest Evergreen Eggfest (Smokin' in Seattle) in September of 2007 at Lake Sammamish State Park in Issaquah. It was a huge success with 25 cooks and over 250 people attending from 7 states.


Tonia came with her husband Larry from Florida

This brings me back to my sentence, "Now although the Egg makes delicious food, that isn't even the best part about it." The people I met at our Eggfest were absolutely the nicest people I have ever met in my life. I'm talking about the people who worked for AES and the dealers and the fellow Eggheads who came and cooked. The people who came and ate were pretty nice, too, but it was the true Eggheads who stood out as being exceptionally nice people.


Love Brian's shirt!

Men in kilts cooking - does it get any better than that?


Ray Lampe, aka Dr. BBQ, our guest chef

Our first Eggfest was very successful and AES and the dealers got together and sent me to Eggtoberfest in October of 2007 as a thank you for my part in starting it up and all. Again, the people I met when I attended that amazing event (200 cooks, 1500 people eating) were just beyond nice. I don't know what it is about them. I certainly meet a lot of nice people as I go through life, but there is just something about these Eggheads that puts them a little bit above average nice. I keep hoping some of it will rub off on me!


Sean Alexander, the generous and talented Egger who designed and maintains our website


Eggers are a colorful bunch

So this year we held our second Eggfest, again in September and at the same location. We had 32 cooks and over 450 people, so we grew a bit, although we only had 6 states represented. Again, it was a super fun day with just the nicest people showing up and helping out, cooking, and having fun together. I walked away with new friends, some great new recipes, and the hope that maybe a little bit more of that niceness had rubbed off on me.


LOVED this kid!


The heat is on!


Pizza on the Egg - delicious!


Couple of satisfied customers

A is for Apple

2008-09-29T11:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had friends over to pick and press apples. This is the second year we've done this. We have a few apple trees and friends also brought some. Our friend Barbara Taylor owns South Island Properties, a property management company, and on Friday Jim and I joined Barb and Eric at a vacant property with 4 huge old apple trees and picked for a couple of hours.

There were about 12 of us on Saturday picking and pressing. Jim and I purchased an apple press off Craig's List earlier this summer. We bought it from a guy whose dad had made it. It has a motor on it and this made the pressing go a lot faster than last year when our friends and neighbors Marcia and Andy Statz brought their antique press up. I had been looking for a press ever since we did this last year and wanted one like the Statzes because it is just so cool looking. This motorized one was the first I came across I liked, and I'm glad we ended up with a motorized one this year.

Statzes' cool press we used last year

We spend four and a half hours pressing I don't know how many bushels of apples. We ended up with 33 pretty large containers of juice. Barbara and I had been saving empty juice containers all year, but she beat me out by a mile. We didn't even have to use the ones I had saved.

We started off at 2 pm picking apples off our trees. After loading the tractor cart with drinks and appetizers, Jim drove it down near the trees. It was very Martha Stewart-ish! We had a blue cheese dip with homemade french bread, mango & bean salsa, apple salsa, and candy corn.

The men were chomping at the bit to get back to try out the apple press. They were intrigued! We broke into work stations with Barb and Shelley in the kitchen sterilizing the containers, Jill and Jesse washing and cutting the apples, and the husbands all standing around admiring the press. We got into the swing of things, figured out the most effective process (stopped cutting the apples first for one thing), and things went smoothly.

There was a small bit of excitement about halfway through. Andy came into the kitchen where Shelley and I were sneaking in a sitting break to ask if we had any bolts as one had worked its way loose and gotten lost. Andy and Jim went off to fix that problem and a short while later Shelley and I heard a loud metal pinging noise, followed by much excited chatter, and then another very loud metal banging noise. I thought the press had come apart at the seams mid operation and was exploding in all directions, piercing everyone with sharp metal projectiles in the process.

Things seemed to calm down and there were no loud "Call 911" shouts, so Shelley and I ventured out to see what had happened. A piece of the tire jack, which was used to press the juice from the shredded apples, had slipped loose, soared about 20 feet into the air, and come crashing down hitting the other end of the press, missing Kelsey's hand by a breath. It left quite a dent where it hit, so Kelsey must have had her guardian angel watching over her. Typical of a 16-year-old, she was not phased in the least.

At 6:30 Kelsey tossed the last apple into the press and we topped off the 33rd, and last, bottle.

The juice is delicious. The variety of apples produced a tasty drink and it is a superior vintage to last year's, in my humble opinion. It tastes like liquid apples--duh--and is just delicious.

We retired inside for a potluck featuring sweet onion sausages from our local farmer's market with homemade mustard and my cousin Joe's bottled BBQ sauce, spinach salad, broccoli apple salad, smoked cheddar and apple au gratin potatoes, baked apple pie beans (are you beginning to see a theme?), taboulli, apple cookies, and apple cheesecake. All washed down with--you guessed it--wine!

The new press draws admiring looks.

The apples get washed…

...go into the crusher…

… and then get pressed. (Only strong macho men need apply for this job.)

A year's worth of saved bottles.

Long-time friend Mike came down from Orcas Island for the day.

The last apple goes into the hopper. Kelsey's hands were stained yellow at the end of the day. What a trooper!

Four and a half hours later after we started!

The hard-working and thirsty crew.

2008-09-29T11:02:00.000-07:00

Thought I would start a blog instead of sending out emails all the time! I grew up in San Mateo, California; lived in Burlingame, Lake Tahoe, and Redwood City; then married a man who was born in Pasadena and grew up in Menlo Park and Atherton. We lived in Redwood City until the mid '90s when we bought his parents' house in Atherton and lived there until 2001. In 2001 we had the chance to relocate to the Seattle area with his company. We visited Whidbey Island, fell in love, and moved here in August of 2001. When we moved here, Jeff was entering 8th grade, Tim 6th grade, and Jesse 4th grade. Jesse hated moving (but has since gotten over it), Tim was 50/50 but took on the adventure eagerly, and Jeff couldn't wait to move and has never looked back. We brought our 6-month-old yellow lab, McKenzie with us. Three years ago we added Tag, a 5-year-old golden retriever, who sadly died of cancer in October 2007. In September of 2007 we added a 1-year-old yellow tabby mouser, Charlie, who more than earns his keep, and in June of 2008 Buddy, a hopelessly neurotic 5-month-old golden retriever came to live. There will be more on all these sons and daughter as time goes on...