in the icebox

SD Zoo

2011-06-19T20:11:00.001-07:00

I love my G12 Canon. I love my EOS Rebel SLR and I will never divorce it, but I am definitely having an affair with the G12. I cannot believe the pictures I can get with an "automatic". The zoom and macro capabilities are awesome too. The animal pictures were all taken VERY far away and settings are just on automatic. Kimmi is mad that I ordered her a kids meal when the sodas are so very small (yet cute!)

Lime coconut cake from Gourmet

2011-06-19T19:34:00.000-07:00

I have a ton of recipes clipped from my favorite, now extinct, cooking magazine, Gourmet, that I still miss it terribly. I've never hit a bad recipe. Key lime Coconut cake is another in the pile that I hadn't gotten to but knew it looked wonderful. I decided to try it this week and it was wonderful especially at the start of the summer season. First, toast some coconut... Mix up the batter and bake which is lovely and aromatic of lime. I went with the rum and made self rising flour from scratch because there was none in the pantry.

Top with the lime glaze and coconut...

Then, it will be gone in no time! It was delicious and loved by all with those wonderful coconut and lime summer flavors. The crumb was light and tasty! Another (post-mortem) score for Gourmet. Can't we resurrect it please? And put Bon Appetit out of its misery as a sacrificial offering? Any mag offering Gwynneth Paltrow on the cover as a cooking goddess (and her recipes are frying zucchini and tossing with pasta) deserves to be released.

The recipe which can now be found on epicurious.com:

Key Lime Coconut Cake Gourmet March 2008
by Melissa Roberts
Yield: Makes 8 servings

Active Time: 20 min

Total Time: 2 hr
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1 tablespoon grated Key lime zest

2 large eggs

1 3/4 cups self-rising flour

3/4 cup whole milk

1/4 cup fresh Key lime juice, divided

1 cup confectioners sugar

1 tablespoon rum (optional)
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Generously butter a 9- by 2-inch round cake pan and line bottom with a round of parchment paper.

Toast coconut in a small baking pan in oven, stirring once or twice, until golden, 8 to 12 minutes. Cool. Leave oven on.

Beat together butter, granulated sugar, and zest with an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Stir together flour and 1/2 cup coconut (reserve remainder for topping). Stir together milk and 2 tablespoons lime juice. At low speed, mix flour and milk mixtures into egg mixture alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour.

Spoon batter into pan and smooth top. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool to warm, then turn out of pan and discard parchment.

Whisk together confectioners sugar, remaining 2 tablespoons lime juice, and rum (if using) and pour over cake. Sprinkle with remaining coconut.

La Jolla Farmer's Market

2011-05-17T08:15:00.000-07:00

It's now in full spring mode with so many wonderful fresh things to buy!

Giada's recipes

2010-10-05T13:39:00.001-07:00

Giada at Home had some really great sounding recipes lately, so I did a Giada-fest last week, to rave reviews.

Grilled asparagus with canteloupe and mozzerella in a lemon vinaigrette with toasted pine nuts and crispy prosciutto. Excellent!

My favorite: fusilli with spicy pesto: spinach, arugula, walnuts and jalapeno. Tasted wonderful and a nice change from the usual basil pesto.

Fregola and mint citrus salad. I cut back the mint which was a wise move. Liked it a lot but I'm not a big fregola fan. Next time, I will use Israeli couscous or orzo. But it was really tasty to mix orange and grapefruit in this summery salad.

Thanks, Giada!

Ad Hoc Fried Chicken Monday

2010-09-25T14:46:00.000-07:00

Towards the end of town, there it is on Monday night.

Beets and greens in a lovely vinaigrette. The bacon was crumbled into teeny bits, which made it more delicious in my opinion, as it flavored but didn't dominate the fresh vegetables.

Chive buttermilk biscuits and the guest of honor. Not shown: ratatouille and sausage gravy.

Too full to do much with this: fresh cashews, goat milk gouda and pear jam which tasted for all the world like apricot jam to me.

Chocolate cake with a chocolate nib thingy. The orange sorbet was sublime and was shaped into an orange (hard to see here)

Piggy, yes I was.

Oh my, how lucky we were to get reservations for one of those Thomas Keller fried chicken Monday's. I'm not a real fried food fan but this was definitely the best I've ever had--and lots of it. And the rest was quite excellent too!

I love Napa- photos only!

2010-09-25T14:30:00.000-07:00

Ubuntu, my favorite this trip!

2010-09-25T14:09:00.000-07:00

Ubuntu is unique. It is a creative, delicious and lovely vegetarian restaurant in Napa which owns a Michelin star. It was delectable and my favorite this trip to the Napa Valley, which is saying something! The waitstaff was charming and very helpful and the food was on another astral plane. This is not the raw kale salad from Whole Foods! The amuse was a fresh, perfectly grilled ramp floating on lime creme fraiche with a sprinkling of hot pepper. What an amuse!

Everything is small plates and between two of us we had four, more than enough and dessert. First we had:
BASIL BUD marinated beets and ‘udumalapet’ EGGPLANT
WAX BEAN vinaigrette, spicy PICKLES, NASTURTIUM panade, ‘poha’ BERRIES.

A really unique/cute/cool/gimicky thing at Ubuntu is they serve the food on the bottom side of the bowl or plate.

Next was undoubtedly our favorite:

rustic rancho gordo ‘yellow eye’ bean stew
ROSEMARY, CHILI, smoked ‘red russian’ KALE . The taste of the kale smoked was like nothing else. We added an Ubuntu farm egg on the top for good measure. The rosemary lent an almost curry-like quality to this stew which was delectable and filling.

Next, another winner:

garden inspired extruded pasta: SPICED fiore, confit ‘gajo de melon’
melted TOMATO, assorted BASILS, ‘midnight moon’ goat’s milk gouda. Could you imagine this combo would be so tasty? The pasta was delicate and home-made and the shavings of goat gouda was out of this world. Also, very filling and warming.

Finishing up the mains with:

“inside out” grits, oven dried ripened and fried green TOMATOES
goat’s milk ricotta, HONG VIT, smoked corn husk. Those peppers looked scarey like a jalapeno/serrano thing but were just flavorful peppers with no spicy bite. Their smoky taste was a nice offset to the creamy, rich grits.

I do not leave without dessert and voila: coconut sorbet float, lemongrass soda
passion fruit tapioca, lime granita, CILANTRO. This was so full of zesty, alive flavors with the fuzzy fizz from the lemongrass soda and the nip from cilantro micro-greens. Refreshing and cool and the perfect ending. Something I would love to have everyday.

Please, please, please Ubuntu, come to my town soon!

Tartines

2010-09-05T18:52:00.001-07:00

Tartines are just a french way of saying "openfaced sandwich".
They are made on a large slice of toasted hearty bread and usually have something warm and melty on in. Ina Garten has some great ideas: try the eggsalad smoked salmon one for starters. This was my tartine in a cafe in Avignon: melted mozzerella with tomatoes, olives and anchovies with a light salad. A perfect lunch.

Bouillabaisse...is it all that?

2010-08-11T23:19:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the origin of classic bouillabaisse is in Marseille and when I saw Bourdain eating it on his show I said "hey what the hell is that dark stuff? but it does look savory".

My first BB was in St. Pete FL and it was exquisite if not authentic. A lovely smooth broth, lightly perfumed with saffron and Pernod and the essence of fennel with the finest of seafoods. But hey, I am happy to try the original when in France. And I know it is supposed to be dense and intense but I am up for trying the original when I loved my Americanized version. But when Michel (Dana's French bf) said in a pseudo-warning tone: You know, in Provence, BB means the soup for the rest of the fish...you know, the fish that cannot be served otherwise" well, I just latched onto that. Hell, I like uni and how could this not be great. Then he warned that in France the service of this dish is not as we'd expect. You get the broth and some crusty, toasted bread slices and some parmesan (now the stuff we were served is as pictured...not exactly looking so freshly grated) and some rouille which is basically mayonaisse spiked with some paprika. And ours was not really looking so "from scratch". Yet here we were on Cassis and right at the shore and all that... Worst, you get the broth and bread first and then after a bit (a very long bit) you get the fish (the lesser stuff) and the bread to throw into this now much cooled broth.

So yeah. The fish was ok. I was spoiled by my St. Pete experience but this fish was just fine and fresh. But that broth. Yes, it looked totally like Bourdain's but the taste was bracing. It felt very spicy, in a dirty kind of way. And the overwhelming sense I had from this brownish, grainy broth was allspice/clove and tumeric. No, that did not taste like it had a ton of saffron...in fact, not too much saffron at all. It had the bite of tumeric.

So, being a mainly vegetarian in my heart, I weeded out the lovely potatoes, dipped some bread into it and had a couple pieces of fish but.....sorry, I know this violates what is "real" but I loved my BB in St. Pete and my BB in the south of France will never be ordered by me again. So I am just going to admit: I do not like authentic bouillabaisse. I prefer the Americanized version or the American cioppino for my fish stews.

Of course, my husband thought it was great......

Croque Madame

2010-08-09T19:54:00.000-07:00

The French love sandwiches with ham and cheese. We grew to love the Croque Monsieur (a glorified grilled ham and cheese sandwich--sometimes just a grilled ham and cheese depending on the cafe). I, however, love the Croque Madame--which is the Monsieur with a fried egg on top. A sandwich for dinner? Well, it's a delicious and filling sandwich and with a small salad and a glass or two of rose? That is a delicious French meal!
Please see Ina Garten (my hero!) for a great recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/croque-monsieur-recipe/index.html

French yogurt and red fruit

2010-08-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

There were so many things I loved about France, of course, the food.

I also loved how they would serve "red fruit" with yogurt, dessert or anything. Red fruit at Pigonnet meant: strawberries, raspberries and cherries. The French love cherries. And sometimes there are plums in "red fruit".

The French also make delicious homemade yogurt in little glass jars for breakfast.

So I decided to do some homemade French type breakfast treats. Pictured at the top: homemade plain yogurt with organic milk topped with "red fruits".

Red fruits: raspberries, strawberries and pitted sour cherries simmered with some sugar and lemon juice. Delicious! One night we had a light sweet custard topped with red fruit and streusel. There are many possibilities with red fruit and it really just makes itself!

Rick Bayless is all that

2010-06-15T20:09:00.000-07:00

Saw Rick's KPBS show and did the tacos al pastor tonight to major acolades. Too freakin lazy to take pics and I regret it but that was a lovely easy meal. With leftovers. So here is a pic from the web that does not show my lovely grilled red onions, pineapples and homemade salsa verde.

Damn my laziness!

I will try to post more consistently now.

Viva el rey!

Goodbye, Gourmet!

2009-10-18T09:25:00.000-07:00

I heard something on NPR a couple weeks ago that gave me pause. Not that Conde Nast mags were having problems but that they were giving the axe to Gourmet! Gourmet is one of my favorite cooking magazines, just second to Saveur. But Gourmet is different than Saveur and very much unlike it's perky insipid cousin, Bon Appetit.

When I look in my recipe binder or my Epicurious recipe box, Gourmet dominates. Their Mu Shu in moments is my standby for one of those dreaded 30 minute meal nights. I'm planning on making the curried red lentil squash soup tomorrow night...it goes on like that. It is a treasure trove of wonderful meals: quick ones, easy ones, complex ones ---but all wonderful. Years ago, there was an Easter issue and a long article on Eastern European meal traditions which was true to my Slovakian ancestry and scored me a really nice prune ice cream recipe too.

But of course, this would also happen right after I sent in the check to renew my subscription at the low rate for THREE YEARS! Arrgh....no worries though, the website says they will honor that time by giving me three more years of ....Bon appetit!

I can only hope that Ruth Reichl, et al, will move onto other wonderful things and I will follow them and maybe if I am really lucky, there will be a coup d'etat at BA and the Gourmet crew will take over. I can dream.......

Who do you love?...Top Chef Masters

2009-08-14T22:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, I am a foodie (god, I hate that word) but I am loving Top Chef Masters as it is all about real and classy chefs working for charity. There is drama but it comes from without and not from Spike being a jackass or Leah cheating and scheming or Dale being a retarded hothea...oh wait, strike that one about Dale.
How can I not want Hubert Keller to win? He is so freaking suave and ...French. Yeah, baby, I know you are lookin' at me! But seriously, have you looked at all that he has cooked? From day one, I knew he was the one who should win. That Vietnamese gazpacho this week looked beautiful-- I plan on trying it out next week. He has it all ---remember that girl scout cookie dessert he made a the beginning? He definitely should win, but I can remember a potential spoiler about who really does win...hopefully, it was not true...but...

If anyone else should win, it should be Rick Bayless. I know I think he exhausts Mexican cuisine but I love his PBS show. Once I tried one of his pork, black bean stew thingys and the whole family went crazy for it. He knows his stuff. I love his whole mannerisms and cute little joking snarks he tries out. Seriously though, I don't imagine I would have liked that weird guacamole ice cream no matter what the judges were saying. I loved how he did his take on an Italian Chiarello dish the other week and it looked glorious, even re-done with a little spicier twist. So if Rick wins, that is very cool too. ....but Hubert is still the man!

And thank god the guy swinging the club is Chiarello! I have to admit from his goofy FoodTV show, I never dreamed he was some macho controlling dude, but hey, it's a fun surprize. I have a newfound respect for him. I had taken a cooking class given by two nutty older cougars who spent most of the time bragging about who they worked with in Hollywood and at FoodNetwork. ( p.s. they were the damn prep people but they bragged like they were chef de cuisine) and they kept idolizing Chiarello---saying he really knew his stuff and was all that. I tended to discount them as they idolized Rachael Ray (mostly, it seemed, because she swore like a sailor and liked her liquor--not exactly an unexpected revelation to me), talked about Tyler Florence like he was a hunk of meat (hey ok, before he beefed up? I'll give them that one) and then (horrors!) they dissed my beautiful Giada! Said her knife skills sucked and snickered at her cooking...then I sat back and realized: jealous cougars! bad cougars!!

So I didn't take much to their Keey-ah- rello line until I've seen him here. I like how he is (or is portrayed to be so by Bravo) as the hard ass, nasty dude. I love that he was down on that self-absorbed Zooey for her ridiculous diet demands and then won the damn challenge with something I'd even consider making. Well, I don't think he'll win but hell, go Michael! Love that you shot down that little shit Dale.

But who do you love? Well to quote the man himself:" I am hotter than a mountain goat at the beach. "For god sake, give Fabio his own show already!

Nina's cooking day

2009-08-07T19:38:00.000-07:00

Went to a vegan/veg cooking class last night and it was actually great! And I love meat. These vegan pumpkin cookies were a hit. Nina decided to make them today and everyone loved them. Don't know if the recipe is copyrighted but pumpkin, toasted walnuts, tart dried cherries and oatmeal are delicious and give a lovely fall touch to our first non sweltering day in SoCal for awhile.

Nina draws much inspiration from Giada and tackled an "intermediate" recipe tonight. Penne with roasted vegetables. She worked hard on her own (my how the kitchen looked when it finally went into the oven!) and did a great job.

Starting to come together here. Everything from scratch but the Cento marinara sauce--hey, Giada said to use bottled marinara sauce!

Coming out of the oven! The house smelled glorious.

Isn't this wonderful looking? We only changed one thing: turned down the oven temp to 375 after 10 minutes otherwise that would have been heckofa crispy pasta. Loved by all and just as good as those vegan cookies. AND! I didn't have to cook--just help with some cleanup. I am so proud of her.

So my project involves using my pickling cucumbers, like Baba did--Slovakian style brine/garlic pickles. I read Ruhlman's blog awhile ago about how to do it (why did I always doubt Mom when she told me? He did it just like her). 1:20 brine and I added smashed garlic and dill fresh from my crazy dill patch.

I used Baba's small pickling jar that Mom had given me. Baba would always make these throughout summer. The smell of that brine with the dill was screaming summer in Pennsylvania to me.

The creative part of my project was how to keep the pickles at 65 degrees or so for 7 days when there are no basements in SoCal and it is HOT! So I am putting it in a small Igloo with some ice packs which I will periodically change out to keep it cool. If it's too hot, it will slime and too cool will be soggy and yukky. So I will know in a week or so.......

chicken with olives and roasted lemons

2009-07-12T19:54:00.001-07:00

DELICIOUS! A Lydia Bastianich recipe that I played with.

Here's what I did:

Slice 2 lemons thinly . Place on parchment paper on a baking tray. Sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Roast in the oven at 375 for about 15-20 minutes until browned on edges.

Meantime:

Salt, pepper and flour boneless skinless chicken breast.

Heat olive oil in skillet over high heat. Add chicken and saute until brown each side about 6 minutes total.

Add chicken broth, 2 T capers, sliced green Italian olives, some chopped fresh tomatoes and cook about 8 minutes until reduced.

Add chopped parsley, spinach, 1T butter and the lemons for about a minute or two. Season with S and P and serve hot.

A hit all around. No exact amounts because I winged it. The sauce was so good!

Maui

2009-07-06T20:39:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how it's only been a week but it seems so much longer than that.

I enjoyed Maui a lot but still Hawaii is my favorite. We did manage to find some authentic areas there---down from Haleakala in the Surfing Goat Dairy area and that coolest of cool spot: Makena!

The sushi at Sansei Sushi in Kihei was killer.

The girls loved seeing celebrities at the hotel. I loved being away. The best thing I did: NO EMAIL for 10 days..aahhh!

ballerinas help make life more beautiful...

2009-03-15T00:08:00.001-07:00

don't they?

Randomness

2009-02-26T12:36:00.001-08:00

I couldn't help myself today. When I went to the nursery there were all these lovely plants, just calling out to me to buy them. They even have some heirloom tomatoes and peppers there. I know it's a little too early with MayGray/JuneGloom coming up but I had to. This is the beauty of living in SoCal. The state may be belly-up, but the weather still is perfect.

Good words of advice I'd gotten in the past that we were laughing about yesterday:

"Never say yes right away. Say I'll get back to you on that"

"I will work for what you pay me."

"You want me to do that for free? Would a lawyer do that for free?"

These are all very funny and very relevant given the day's events yesterday. Now let's see if the change is going to come.

LJ Farmer's Market

2009-02-22T19:14:00.001-08:00

Our favorite: mango with lime and pico

Gorgeous broccoli and all kinds of beans you can imagine.

Love this potato stand. We got the best yams for Thanksgiving ever here.

Kid trying to start the engine while I admire the citrus.

It's almost spring but some of the best looking salad greens are here.

Got a bunch of the pink ones today and they are delicious.

Lettuces and mushrooms.

Love the Farmer's Market on Sundays.

My favorite flower stand. The nicest guy works here and these tulips last a week easy.

English peas are so sweet and the bunch onions are great in cooking.

My favorite fruit stand.

Killer Pink Ladies. We buy a ton to last one week...and they will last maybe 3 days.

There are these Farmer Market snobs in San Diego. This one at LJ is truly wonderful but because there are crafts, the CH'ers knock it and say it's not authentic. But most everything here is organic and there are superb stands with crepes, mini donuts, the best Mexi food, East African stand (my favorite),etc etc. And where else can you buy gorgeous bonsai, buddha bracelets, undersea treasures and the freshest produce. So yah, Hillcrest and Little Italy have some great stuff: HC has the largest produce selection and LI has cheese and meat but I love LJ!

Pear cake

2009-02-09T20:55:00.001-08:00

Today's project is Mom's Pear Cake. I loved it so many years ago and since it's raining and blustery in San Diego, it will make the house smell good and feel cozy.
The mise en place.

The pears actually are beautiful at Von's. Screw locavore, we want pear cake today!

Mixing the diced pears into the batter.

I love my hand mixer. I'd been only using the Kitchen Aid stand mixer but I love my new hand one. It's what I'd always used many years ago and it's the only thing mom used and it's her pear cake recipe after all.

Covering the batter with the sour cream mix, to be followed by chopped walnuts, sugar and cinnamon.

40minutes later!

A couple minutes after that! It is delicious and we all enjoyed pear cake after our whole wheat penne with chicken, broccoli and sundried tomato dinner.

YUM!

PEAR CAKE

1-2 Bartlett pears peeled and diced

1/2 c milk

1 1/2 c flour

1/4 c softened butter

1/2 c sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 c sour cream

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon, divided

1/3 c chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375. Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon (1/2 tsp) and salt. Cream butter with 1/2 c sugar until smooth then add one egg and milk and mix until smooth. Blend in flour mix. Pour into 9 x 9x 2 greased and floured baking pan. Mix sour cream with one egg until smooth and spread on top of batter. Mix nuts, 1/4 c sugar and 1/2 t cinnamon together and sprinkle on top of mix. Bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes, until cake tester comes out clean.

Yum!

January in So Cal

2009-01-25T01:04:00.001-08:00

Beautiful and we love it!

This is not to make you jealous if you don't live here but to show my appreciation

Happy Bday from scratch

2009-01-17T11:06:00.001-08:00

No formal quinceaneras here. Just a family day and nice dinner out. So I will make 2 kinds of cupcakes from scratch...on a very hot SantaAna day here in SoCal. Found the carrot one by googling (forget which site it was) and red velvet ones courtesy of the RecipeGirl of course.

Mise en place? Sorta--I pulled the ingredients out at least.

It's not a birthday without candles.

I could eat this right now, but I won't

Composter gets fed too.

Carrot cupcakes sans icing.

Gifts, cards and cupcakes!

And balloons. Happy Birthday, sweeties!!

Food Poisoning sucks

2009-01-13T23:12:00.000-08:00

Ok, no photos for this one and you are thankful.
We flew back from NY on NYEve. We all had different things for b-fast and on the plane the kids had Zone bars and coke and we just had different airport stuff....no common denominator.
Got home around 6 and it's just too late to pick up salmon from El Pescador so we decided to do our fave local Greek place. But they are booked, so I order takeout. Well, as it ends up only one kid had her own special dish and the rest of us shared all the same stuff. Bill ate the most and by 11pm, he was barfing big time. Next gal goes down around 1am after keeping me up with her misery for an hour or so. By 5, I who ate the least, am worshiping at the porcelain god. Gal 2 and I are fine after the initial insult come Rose Parade time but Bill is a mess until well into 2009. Gal 1 is unscathed having only had her special dish and no sharing.

It doesn't take 2 MDs to figure out it's food poisoning and by the timing, it's likely Staphylococcus. Google it to find out how it gets into food and then you will feel sick too.
So no NY champagne and basically Gatorade, jello, bananas and chicken broth until Jan 3. Nina wonders how she lucked out to only love the gyros.

I got a nice response from the manager although it was to offer another free entree and not to fire the loser who was contaminating the food as I'd asked. I wrote him only to make sure it doesn't happen again. The worst thing a restaurant can do is to poison their customers (not to overcharge during restaurant week). And (I understand why he had to do this) he said his restaurant was perfect and maybe we ate something else or even had a little too much bubbly. No sir, no bubbly for us this year...we were too busy returning the Greek food in the bathroom!

So for the second time in my life I have gotten food poisoning that I am sure of and it is awful. Sucks because I loved their food in the past and we rarely eat out so this is a double insult.

If you can, just cook yourself---per Bittman--it's so much nicer. Although I am happy having survived the "barnyardish" wontons at Big Wong King in Chinatown over Christmas!

In the pantry

2009-01-10T13:59:00.000-08:00

Yes, that's premade chicken stock there!

In the icebox, yes, premade pie crusts too!

I love Mark Bittman and I love him on the "Spain on the Road again" PBS series with Mario (Gweneth not so much at all). He has a great article in the NYT this week on what you need in your pantry. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/dining/07mini.html?_r=2&ref=dining

I am happy to see I have everything he lists and then some. But there are 2 things I just must disagree on: dried beans only and no premade pie crusts. With 2 kids that are really liking to do some cooking and long job hours for me, these 2 are life savers. Sure, I could put those dried cannelini in the pressure cooker but that is still 45 minutes and yet another pot. So I will use dried beans when I can but never will I ban the canned ones from the pantry.

Premade pie crusts? My MIL made a lovely pie once and knowing she is one of ultimate convenience, I wondered how she had the patience to make such a good crust. She revealed her secret of Pillsbury in the refrigerator section. They are good, yes they are. When I was on call for the entire 4 day Thanksgiving weekend, Nina went into high gear and made the pies and she did a great job with the pre-made crusts. And a little less cleanup when I did get home (yes, they haven't quite mastered the cleaning up after cooking part!) They do have their place and I do have a pack in the freezer as I type.

So, yeah Bitty, I do agree almost all the way, but do not take away these two. I'm also coming around to the homemade stock concept. I had to figure out, however, you do not just pitch the bags in the freezer. They conform to the shelves and you can't get them out without thawing the whole freezer!

December in NYC

2009-01-03T11:02:00.001-08:00

Outside of Central Park by the Essex House

Central Park

Fifth Avenue--interesting store

The Plaza

Ave of the Americas

Big Wong King in Chinatown.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T08:17:00.001-08:00

Treasure all of your Christmas memories!

Nina's First Gingerbread House

2008-12-22T19:23:00.000-08:00

Not much to say. She pretty much did it all herself. Took her a week to do it---she's a perfectionist and motivation got a little thin during school.

Wonder if she'll want to do it again next year. Smells great!
Looks gorgeous!

Brewing

2008-12-22T19:13:00.000-08:00

All the hops and grains are in this giant sock-thingy that boils and boils for awhile.

This is when you get the wort going and you boil over the stove with some grains and stuff. You walk in the house and the aroma screams "BEER!!!"

Yes, sometimes the garage does double as a brewery. How rude of you to point that out! Now only 2 weeks to bottling and then another 2 weeks to consuming. Bill's gotten really good at this. I don't particularly love beer but that brown ale is very good with a burger. Thanks to Buzz for getting us started on this.

All the cozy smells of Christmas

2008-12-20T18:54:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas!

Buon Natale!

Vesele Vianoce!

Nollaig chridheil agus Bliadhna mhath ùr!

Kielbasa steaming from Teprovich's Market in Quakake PA

Gingerbread!

Seven seafood feast on Christmas Eve. Viva Italia!

Christmas day ravioli preparation

The smell of the Christmas tree...aahhh!

Rainy Christmas eve. ('tis the season for rain in SoCal)

Christmas a long time ago

2008-12-20T10:57:00.000-08:00

Holidays have a strong association with food for me. I have great memories of Christmases past at Baba's house and the Slovakian treats. When I baked the nut and poppyseed rolls, I remembered more clearly. Same thing with the lekvar cookies. And when I bake them, I hope my kids get that same feeling too.

Cozy and delicious!

Thanksgiving garden

2008-11-29T21:19:00.000-08:00

The winter garden is looking pretty good right now. The spinach is nice and green and has been added to many omelets.

The wine barrel full of carrots is coming along.

The peas and radishes are flourishing.

Swiss chard is looking colorful and happy (with some bug bites, after all we're organic here!)

Broccoli is finally looking ok. And the Japanese eggplant is on its third set of little guys!

And thanks to some bird netting around the perimeter, my little space has not yet been considered a litter box by gato gordo!

Under the hazy Tuscan sun

2008-11-22T19:41:00.001-08:00

There are times in life when you are doing something and later you say: wow, that was amazing--what an experience.

Then there are the times in life when you are doing something and say right then: wow, this is amazing--what an experience.

Tuscany was the latter.

It was so wonderful run into Nancy and Stuart last night. Of course, the first thing we did was reminsce about Tuscany and what I think was probably the best part: the night of La Chiusa.

Dania was a wonderful chef and a lovely woman and owned a Michelin star. And she was hostess enough that, when John called me out as a foodie and a fan, she led us all to the humble kitchen that created such wonder.

And isn't this irony: we travelled Italy with cameras adherent to our necks but that night, we thougth it was "just a dinner" and didn't bring one. And it turned out to be the essence of Tuscany and one of our most treasured memories.

Nancy emailed me all of her photos from that night. The jpgs are low res but they are plenty to remind me of what a wonderful world it was in Tuscany!

Don't ruin my dinner!

2008-11-08T20:42:00.000-08:00

DOGGIE SAYS "YOU STINK!!!!"

Last night we went out for sushi at our usual, favorite local spot. Happily at the sushi bar, sipping sake and waiting for Tony to make a #18, I smell the front door open. Yes, I SMELL it!

An elderly couple walks in ...well, her gross perfume walked in way ahead of them. And sits....yes, next to me-- the last open spot at the bar. I spent the rest of my meal with my hand over my nose between bites and there were no tables open for us to switch to. The experience was severly limited, needless to say.

My GOD! I've had this happen in other restaurants too. DO NOT PUT ON HEAVY SCENTS WHEN GOING OUT TO EAT! It ruins it for everyone with a sense of smell ( I know older people lose that so just stop putting it on because you are putting too much on all the time).

Then we go out to the symphony and the symphony crowd is also a lot of elderly people and therefore, gross over-perfumed smells.

AAARRRGGGHHH!

I couldn't wait to enter the night clean air despite the lovely Parisian pianist playing spectacular Saint-Saens.

Enough with banning cigarettes. I'd prefer a ban on cologne, perfume and aftershave and the like. LET ME BREATHE AND EAT CLEANLY!!!

/end rant

Welcome November!

2008-11-01T10:11:00.001-07:00

Halloween ended up being slow last night. A flurry of kids until 8, then nothing. A pumpkin got kicked but my favorite was my puking pumpkin. One kid said: "that's a nice vomiting jack-o-lantern you have here!"

Hopefully, this hot and dry turns to cool and wet soon. I re-did the garden, thinned seedlings and added some swiss chard. I am ready for a cooling trend!

Not my favorite month anymore...

2008-10-16T20:24:00.000-07:00

October was always my favorite month because I love fall so much. I even got married in October. Fall never made me feel sad or wistful; it made me feel warm and full. So many good, warm and flavorful treats against a crisp air with the musty smell of leaves and some acrid wood smoke. Well, that was when I lived on the East Coast.

Now in California, October means incessant Santa Anas. Sounds nice: warm, dry, winds. Not exactly. It's so dry my skin feels like lizard-paper and I get nosebleeds and dry skin bumps. Warm to dry out my garden if I don't water it. And those breezes die down at night so you can swelter when you sleep but it's an awkward heat. At 7% humidity you actually chill with the heat and can literally feel the sweat on your palms and feet because it evaporates instantly. These past weeks have been mainly hotter than hot Santa Anas and my plants look a little worse for the wear. My seedlings are enjoying it because Iwater them daily. I would love to do warm meals at night, but with this weather, grilled burgers and chicken is about all we can handle.

The worst part is the constant fires with these Santa Anas---man made fires and fires due to power lines blown down etc. We lived through 2 major ones in the past 5 years and they were devastating, exasperating and depressing.

My daughter's friend summed it up best today: "it's so dry even the boys are using ChapStick.

Yes, I hate October in California but not back East. I love it back there. Next year, I will go back for a long weekend in October. Even if it rains the whole time, I will have the crisp air and the lovely smells of fall to make me feel warm again.

Winter garden

2008-10-09T19:21:00.001-07:00

Dug up everything except some herbs and tilled and planted a bunch of seeds: carrots (sweet treat), snap peas, broccoli, sweet peas, romaine, spinach, onions. All from seeds. I put a bunch of bird netting over it for now so gato-gordo doesn't view it like he always does: a beautiful new litterbox.
Always exciting to think about winter vegetables. Even though I am missing my summer tomatoes already!

Sarah

2008-10-05T20:30:00.000-07:00

What is the big deal about Sarah Palin? Why is she so evil?

I do not agree with a lot of her stances on things but she is not intolerant or evil. Not from anything I've heard or seen.

And what is intolerant or so evil about keeping her Down Syndrome child? I work with these patients and yes, most do terminate. But how is keeping, caring and loving your Tri 21 kid evil? Heroic is more how I'd call it.

Isn't she the ultimate feminist? She has family, kids, career and deals with crap at home and work but it doesn't throw her. Since when did abortion and liberalism equal feminism? I believe in both of those, but I don't believe it is exclusionary of feminism. Unless of course, we are wanting feminism to just die a natural death here.

Wake up. She's ok. She may not be you or me, but she sure has gone after and achieved what most of us have not (by choice or life circumstances). Dude, she hunts and cooks caribou too. I can only cook it. (Hunting is not my thing)

beginnings

2008-10-01T19:47:00.000-07:00

just starting out and I chose the theme from this lovely poem:

THIS IS JUST TO SAY
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast.

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold.
-- William Carlos Williams