Celebrating Nutella!

Nutella and I share a very special relationship*.

No. No. NO! it's different from my relationships with Ben & Jerry, Jose and the others.

It's a deeper connection than the burning desire to bury a spoon deep within the jar, spin it around, extract it slowly and lose myself in the velvety luxury of a naked dollop of rich chocolatey goodness. It's more significant than that Zen feeling of spreading its smooth silkiness across the freshest bakery croissant, savoring the moment the two blend into rich buttery chocolate heaven across my tongue.*

You see, Dear Reader, Nutella and I share a similar genealogy, the same last name. In 1946, my immigrant grandfather had left the coal mines behind, spending most of his adult life employed by the Illinois Central Railroad. A half world away in the town of Alba Italy, my grandfather's namesake (and given the geography, likely a distant cousin, though we've never taken the time to prove it) invented a bread-spread of cocoa and hazelnut and then built a company to produce and market it. Sixty years later, Pietro Ferrero's grandchildren remain at the helm of an international organization employing over 16,000 people and still espousing his founding principles: using the highest quality ingredients and state-of-the-art technology to create unique confections and make them accessible to consumers.

Nutella debuted in the United States in the early 1960's; I came on the scene a few years later. We've kind of grown up together.

So when a couple of creative Italian bloggers declared Tuesday February 6 as World Nutella Day, there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to participate.

So I pulled a jar of Nutella from my pantry. (There is ALWAYS a jar of Nutella in my pantry.) A bottle of frangelico. A couple of sheets of puff pastry from the freezer (I still have a bit of leftover puff pastry). A block of cream cheese from the refrigerator. The bananas and pears that arrived in this week's CSA box. And I began to experiment. I'm actually pretty proud of myself -- the product of my mish-mash of ingredients definitely doesn't suck.*

Banana Hazelnut Tarts

2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 bananas, sliced crosswise into 1/4 - 1/2" disks
1/4 cup frangelico
4 oz (give or take) block cream cheese
1/2 cup (give or take) Nutella
2 sheets of puff pastry

Combine butter and brown sugar in a skillet, stirring over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Add banana slices, and saute until they begin to soften and brown. Carefully add the frangelico. Continue to cook until frangelico warms and sauce thickens slightly. Remove from heat and set aside.

Preheat oven to 400.

In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese and Nutella, blending until smooth (I used a hand mixer.)

Coat a twelve-cup muffin tin with your lubricant of choice* (I used nonstick cooking spray, canola oil or butter would also work)

Roll out puff pastry and cut into 4 inch squares. Spread 1 to 1.5 tablespoons Nutella mixture in the center of each square. Carefully move squares to muffin tin. Top Nutella mixture with a spoon or two of the bananas.

(Since I've been feeling guilty about the mini tart shells I bought last fall and have only used once, I used them instead of the muffin tins. Either would work fine.)

Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes or until puff pastry "puffs" and browns slightly. (when making this again I'll probably blind bake the shells first).

Cool for a few minutes before plating. Serve with frangelico sauce drizzled over the pastry.

*I can't WAIT to see the Google searches that land people on THIS post.

Technorati Tags: Food Blog Event | Meme | World Nutella Day | Nutella

Searching for an old friend...

...we made a new one.

You could say John and I have an obsession with sushi. And you really wouldn't be exaggerating. It's probably the one pilgrimage we make MORE often than Nibblers.

John's fixation started before we met. Mine began early in our relationship with my first visit to Koji's. A four-table hole in the wall off the beaten path on the San Francisco peninsula, Koji's was a true neighborhood find -- and the perfect place to discover a new food addiction.

Over the years we've probably sampled hundreds of sushi bars and found a few favorites along the way. But because John was one of Koji's first customers and Koji was my first real sushi experience, we managed to make our way back to 37th Avenue no matter from wherever we were in the bay.

Since Koji closed his doors in 2004, a dedicated group of his customers have kept in touch and we've followed him around the bay to the very best of our ability. So before he celebrates his first anniversary with Hiro Steak and Sushi in Brentwood we decided to visit and check out his newest digs.

A little Internet research reveals that Hiro's is the brainchild of owner Mark Bradford and executive chef Hiro Ogawa, that it will take us a little longer than an hour to get there, that for a Japanese restaurant the wine list is impressive, and that the descriptions of the menu items have us salivating over the keyboard.

I find the ambiance at Hiro's fascinating. A lot of restaurants try to offer something for everyone -- and lose their own identity in the process. Part piano lounge, part sushi bar, part robata grill, part 5-star restaurant -- Hiros' manages to do it all, and do it well. From our seats at one end of the sushi bar, we're close enough to the lounge to observe the quiet and friendly efficiency of the bar staff and enjoy the young Michael Bolton lookalike and his unique style on the piano before turning our attention to the menu before us.

It's immediately clear that we've missed Koji -- but quickly becomes equally clear that he's made a mark on the menu. Hiro himself offers us an amuse of seared tuna in a creamy wasabi sauce before taking our order. We enjoy ocean-fresh nigiri, a crisp-tender tempura roll (with just a bit too much greenery for John), and a creamy California roll that evoked memories of late nights on 37th Avenue for both of us. One of the most interesting dishes we chose was the edamame -- prepared "three ways" -- some simply sprinkled with salt, some seasoned with garlic, and a third section in an sweet sesame dressing. Fascinating in it's complex simplicity, I'm convinced this preparation would convert many soy-phobes to the other side.


One of the things that turns a good sushi bar experience into a great one for us is our interaction with the sushi chef, our host for the evening. No matter how fresh the fish, the experience lacks luster if we can't find a connection with the chef. Hiro was the consummate host -- attentive and friendly without hovering or 'up-selling.' He let us set the pace, paid attention to our selections and our reaction to his creations, offering an occasional recommendation based on his observations. When John ordered uni to finish, we explained that while I appreciate good uni, I usually find a whole nigiri overwhelmingly rich. In response, Hiro offered me the smallest of spoonfuls to sample.

In the end, John mustered the courage to ask after Koji. Sadly, we managed to visit on the last Friday of Koji's vacation in Japan -- he's scheduled to return on Monday and Hiro promised to tell him we'd stopped in. So we'll need to make the drive out Vasco Road again in February to reconnect with an old friend and a new one.

Hiro's Steak & Sushi - 613 First St., Brentwood - 925.634.3129

Technorati Tags: Restaurants | Sushi | Restaurant Reviews

Butterfly Effect - the Written Word

Bet you all figured I'd given up on this whole Butterfly Effect meme, huh?

Ye of little faith.

Part four sends me to explore my culinary bookshelf in search of the volume that changed everything...

Flash back to 1989. Your heroine is a twenty-something soon-to-be-senior in college. She's survived a year of dorm food without donning the famous freshman fifteen. She's spent the last few years as a pampered sorority girl, with an on-site chef, houseboys to serve Monday night formal dinners -- her only foray into the kitchen a once-a-month obligation to empty the dishwasher and refill the milk dispensers.

It's a bright late September afternoon (especially by central Oregon standards) full of the promise of things to come. Your heroine's unloaded the car, hung the curtains, made the bed, stocked the bathroom with enough haircare products to open a salon and rearranged the furniture in the small sitting room. She now stands with her roommate Susie surveying no-mans-land, the large-by-campus-apartment-standards kitchen they'll share for the next 9 months.

Susie owns a set of ginsu knives her grandmother bought on late-night-TV. Your heroine's a little better off -- she's got a toaster oven and a popcorn popper from the dorm days and a set of mis-matched fraternity-labeled beer steins, souvenirs from a sampling from a series of invitations to that social rite of passage in the collegiate Greek community: the barn dance.

Hmm...

Houston, we have a problem. Neither our budgets nor our waistlines are going to withstand a semester of Track Town delivery or burgers and beer at Rennie's Landing.

Solution? Pick up the phone and call dad. In less than a week, his food loving friends have outfitted our apartment with an eclectic collection of hand-me-downs. A 1950's vintage "Mix Master" mixer. Two mix-and-match collections of cookware: a 6 piece nonstick set and 4 copper-bottom sauce pots. Dented but functional cookie sheets and muffin tins.

But I digress. The purpose of this side-trip to kitchens past is to divulge the cookbook that most influenced my culinary journey. That cookbook arrived two weeks after my desperate call for help: a housewarming gift from my godparents.

The package was heavier than its packaging would indicate. I eagerly tore the tape off the box, scattering Styrofoam peanuts along the counter to reveal a book wrapped in Ruth's trademark wrapping: the Sunday comics. "Julia Child," the cover pronounced. "The Way to Cook."

"Julia Child?" I pondered? "That funny French chef from PBS"? I set the book aside for later; I had more textbooks than I could handle without one for the kitchen.

Fortunately, it wasn't long before I found myself wanting to impress another young man with food. Our typical fare of ramen noodles with a side salad wouldn't cut it. Neither would hamburgers on the hand-me-down hibachi. And I'd already done the chocolate chip cookie thing.

I wanted something adult, something unforgettable. {Get your mind out of the gutter}

I was thinking ... steak. With some kind of sauce. Real vegetables on the side. The kind that came from the produce aisle, not the freezer. Like a restaurant. As I pondered the menu, I knew I was in over my head. But wait. Where's that Julia book? She's got to have a recipe...

As I paged through the meat section, I found myself transfixed, and transformed. Julia had more than a recipe. She had advice. How to purchase good quality meat. How to work with various cuts. Which was best sauteed, roasted, grilled. And why. Questions to ask the butcher. A couple of "master recipes" with dozens of variations. In the span of a half dozen pages, this woman told me what to do, showed me how to do it, and offered me the inspiration and the courage to stray from the printed recipe, making the menu truly my own.

I was hooked.

In that moment and over the course of the next several years, Julia changed the way I approached food preparation. Rather than heading to the grocery with a rigid list, I started shopping for the freshest ingredients and those that appealed to me in the moment. I began using recipes as guidelines rather than commandments. With a stocked pantry (which Julia taught me how to do), I was confident I'd find a way to put interesting meals together. I usually succeeded. And when I failed, I learned something in the process. When I wanted to try something new there was Julia, ready to show me the way. Puff pastry. Pie crust. Exotic seafood and vegetables.

Thanks Julia. We've come a long way together. And I've eaten well along the journey.

Technorati Tags: Food Blog Events

Coming back up for air...

What is it with this winter cold/flu that just won't let up? I've been sick so long, I'd forgotten what 'well' felt like! The irony that I started this coughing-sneezing-stuffy head journey three days after I got my flu shot is not lost on me.

But enough with the whining. Hang in there, my friends. I'm on the road to recovery and I'll be back soon with tales of recipes and restaurants and a fabulous field trip to San Francisco's Fancy Food Fair...

Thirteen sheets of leftover puff pastry

Those of you who've been around a while remember our open house in November. A pre-Thanksgiving Saturday afternoon we turn off the heat, fire up the grill, the oven, and virtually every other heat-producing appliance in the kitchen and prepare a finger-food feast for nearly 100 of our closest friends.

In our sixth year, we've worked most of the kinks out of the menu and found ourselves a rhythm that works for us. This year we worked with our contacts in the restaurant business to procure some of the staples. Cheeses. Mini phyllo shells. Puff pastry. In restaurant sized packages. Which brings us to my second edition of the Thursday thirteen:

Thirteen creative uses for leftover puff pastry...

1. Breakfast just doesn't get any better than this. Based on how yummy this was with commercial pastry, I can't wait to try it using her recipe for pamesan pastry.
2. Sweet tooth? Check out Food Network's Puff Pastry, Apple & Raisin Strudel. Assemble it Saturday night and toss it in the freezer overnight for a no-fuss addition to your Sunday brunch menu.
   
3. Tonight's cover recipe comes to us from The Wednesday Chef. I love leeks. I love goat cheese and mushrooms. Fennel's a bit of a stretch, but I've learned to trust Luisa. If she says I'll like something, I usually do. A wedge of Leek, Mushroom and Goat Cheese Tart with a cup of mushroom soup was exactly the antidote for a long cold winter day.
4. Puff pastry plus a few extra ingredients and you have yourself a sensational weekend lunch. I'm particularly fond of my friend Haalo's Potato & Onion Tart -- and I don't LIKE anchovies. (Rocket? That's arugula in this part of the world).
   
5. Having friends over on Friday night? Brie kisses and a bottle of wine are a great way to start the weekend off right. A mini muffin tin, a sheet or two of puff pastry, a small wheel of brie and a jar of your favorite jam/jelly/preserves is all you need. Prepare your muffin tin with the nonstick spray of your choice. Cut the pastry into 2-inch squares, putting a square into each muffin form. Top with a 1/2 teaspoon of brie and a 1/4 teaspoon of the preserves. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool briefly before you enjoy -- the contents get molten.
6. Don't want to work that hard? Forget the slicing and stuffing -- top your brie with several tablespoons of the preserves. Wrap it in puff pastry, brush with beaten egg wash and bake at 400 for 25 minutes. Allow to cool 20 minutes before serving.
   
7. Last week's Salmon Fillet in Puff Pastry with Citrus Beurre Blanc was absolutely sensational, and not nearly as much effort as I'd initially expected.
8. For a hearty appetizer, try my Sassy Savory Tarts, inspired by Australia's answer to Martha Stewart - Donna Hay. I like to serve these over balsamic-dressed spring greens.
9. Or Bron's Caramalized Onion, Goat Cheese & Fig Tarts -- pornography on a plate.
   
10. Chocolate/Puff Pastry/Cream Cheese cookies feel like cheating, they're so simple. But they are consistently one of my most popular contributions to cookie exchange parties.
    
11. Another yummy entree using mostly kitchen staples: Spinach-Stuffed Chicken in Puff Pastry. Again, unless I'm serving serious company, I tend to skip the decorative extras. It tastes just as good without "decorative stems and leaves."
12. These Mini Savoury Tarts aren't nearly as fussy as they look. They taste amazing and they make a gorgeous plate. I'm particularly fond of the mushroom ones.
13. This variation on soft breadsticks pleases even my finicky "he won't eat that, it's not chicken" nephew.
    

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

1. (leave your link in comments, I'’ll add you here!)


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. ItÂ’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants


Technorati Tags: Food | Leftovers | Puff Pastry | Recipes | Thursday Thirteen

Coaxing you out of your comfort zone

It's come to my attention that January 8-12 is "De-Lurking Week." Devised by Stephanie of Paper Napkin and now in its third year, this is is your golden opportunity to let me know you're out there.

How? Leave a comment. Let me know a little something about you. Where you're from. What brought you here. Or for the dozen or so of you who are semi-regular readers, what brings you back.

Come on, I don't bite.

(unless you know the code word and the secret handshake.)

On creating a monster...

We haven't packed the pasta roller up from Monday's adventures yet. (And yes, I *do* intend to tell the story behind Monday's adventure... as soon as I'm through with this round of system testing at work).

And we're trying to limit "mindless takeout" this year -- opening the refrigerator rather than the phone book or the drive-through -- and redeploying that portion of our food budget to the newly created vacation fund.

So when John suggested he'd make fresh pasta for dinner after a Saturday of non-stop errand-running, I didn't need a lot of convincing.

Because pesto appealed to both of us we made a quick stop at the grocery store, figuring we'd pick something up out of the deli case.

Hmm. $7.50 for half a cup of pesto. And that's the store brand.

A quick trip down the produce aisle reveals we can get a bunch of fresh basil for $1.59. I've got leftover pine nuts from my holiday baking. And what self-respecting Italian American doesn't have garlic or olive oil in her pantry?!?!

When we got home, John made the pasta. While the dough rested, he whipped up the pesto. My sole contributions to dinner were helping with the pasta roller (a three-hand job) and grilling up a bit of sausage.

Yeah, I could get used to this.

Technorati Tags: Food

Thursday Thirteen

I discovered this Thursday 13 thing through the Holidailies Portal and I thought I'd try it out this week. Who knows, it may end up being a regular weekly feature...

You can learn a lot about a person from what they eat. So my introductory contribution to Thursday Thirteen centers around thirteen things I tasted this week. Gourmet things. Homemade things. Extravagant things. Simple things. Good things.

1. I picked up a couple of gorgeous salmon fillets at Trader Joes, and we still have a ton of leftover puff pastry in the freezer from November's open house. Gotta love Google. We had a romantic dinner at home Friday night: Salmon Fillet in Puff Pastry with Citrus Beurre Blanc and a salad of butter lettuce and avocado. The salmon dish is a *whole* lot less fussy if you dispense with the fishy shapes and just cut the pastry in squares.
2. Saturday's dinner was tasty, if not quite as successful. We were set to make steamed mussels with Belgian frites. We braved the mandoline to slice the potatoes. We broke out the new deep fryer that Santa gave me. Read the instructions carefully. Plunged the potatoes into the oil as instructed and --- spent the next hour cleaning oil off the counters, the cabinets, the floor, the ceiling. And being very thankful that neither of us were hurt in the process. So I head to the closest fast food joint for takeout fries while John steams the mussels. We settle down with our makeshift meal and a bottle of Belgian brew -- and John breaks out in hives. Which return periodically over the course of the weekend -- as near as we can tell, some odd allergic reaction to the mussels.
3. Nothing says "lazy Sunday afternoon" like French toast with preserves and powdered sugar and a marathon of Top Chef episodes queued in the Tivo. The perfect way to say goodbye to 2006.

4. New Year's Eve. Farewell 2006, hello 2007. What better way to celebrate than with good food in the company of good friends? We closed the year with our friends at Nibblers. I selected the Champagne tasting menu: five courses of celebratory cuisine paired with sparkling wines from around the globe. John stayed closer to home culinarily -- going with a taste of Napa. Because we believe the joy of food is largely in sharing it, we ended up experiencing a ten-course tasting menu.
   
5. Regular readers are already aware of Monday's adventures with ravioli, detailed here.
   
6. While we assembled the aforementioned ravioli we snacked on mushroom & goat cheese tarltettes hot from the oven and a selection of cheeses and crackers.
   
7. St Benoit yogurt can be rather difficult to find in my part of the bay area. So when I saw it last week at Whole Foods I eagerly stocked up. And I've been enjoying a crock of honey flavored yogurt for breakfast all week.
   
8. Sometimes a simple seasonal Satsuma Mandarin orange or two IS the perfect ending to an evening meal.
   
9. I'm indulging in an obsession with broccoli this winter. Steamed. Roasted with lemon. Sauteed. Stir fried. Creamed in soup. I can't get enough of it.
   
10. Panera's new Turkey Caprese sandwich is a great antidote to lunch-on-the-go, and even at over 600 calories, it *feels* more virtuous than the drive-thru.
    
11. After a morning full of mind-numbing meetings, a little sashimi salad is just the ticket to decompression. Buttery hamachi. Firm, flavorful tuna. Soft unctuous salmon. Shredded lettuce & sweet rice. A splash of soy sauce and a small dollop of wasabi. Better than Calgon. Less risky than a liquid lunch...
    
12. Christmas Eve with John's family several of us were still medicating that stubborn winter cold and weren't sure we wanted to indulge in champagne. Enter Trader Joes' Blood Orange Soda. Which now has a permanent home in my refrigerator. The perfect foil to everything from a four course Mexican holiday menu to a sandwich and kettle chips.
    
13. And lucky thirteen - Reed's Ginger-flavored ice cream -- Sweet but not sickly-so -- this is a great grown-up ice cream.
    

And now for the Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

Take the time to follow the links below... you might discover some great new blogs!

1. Lisa shares 13 ideas for tackling insomnia on her Scenic Road to Joy.
2. Laura expands our reading list: 13 titles to add you your Amazon wish list.
3. Taking "obsession" to a new level, Nathalie agonizes over 13 frustrations planning a vacation.
4. Sanni's recently remodeled her blog, and shares the 13 add-ons she enjoys the most in her new space.
5. Janie (who shares my obsession with Top Chef) introduces us to 13 famous people she's met. Sadly, none of them is Harold Dieterle. :)
6. For those of you who need to catch a nap in your cubicle, Raggedy provides 13 ready-made excuses if you get busted.
7. Get an iPod for Christmas? Looking for upbeat music as you trudge back to the gym in January? Samantha's got 13 songs guaranteed to get your heart pumping.
8. Thomma Lyn shares 13 stupid words and phrases that drive her nuts. A neat list. I'm not sure I could stop at 13. :)
9. Caylynn offers her 13 favorite leisure activities. What resonates with me about her list is the balance she achieves through a variety of hobbies that fuel her mind, her body and her spirit.
10. Aimee offers 13 more ecclectic musical selections for new iPod owners.
11. In a fascinating psychological study, Christie ponders 13 of the oddest Google searches that have led readers to her blog.
12. Michelle explores the magical world of strange baby names.
13. Suburban Mum seeks balance through her insightful resolutions for a happy & fulfilling 2007.
14. Pam posts an ecclectic list of online reading material sure to keep you busy as you web surf through the lunch hour.
15. Crystal shares her goals for 2007.
    
16. In an ode to my favorite pastime -- procrastination, teachergirl ponders the things she should have gotten done.
17. My maternal ancestry is Pennsylvania Dutch, so I read Gem's list of superstitions with great interest.
18. Moma's World's list defies verbal explanation -- you'll just have to go see for yourself.
    
19. You could be here. If you're participating in the January 4 Thursday 13, leave your link in comments, I'll add you here!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. ItÂ’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Technorati Tags: Food | Cooking | Recipes | Dining Out | Memes | Thursday Thirteen

Flour & Eggs, Chard & Ricotta...

Look how WE spent New Years Day!

Technorati Tags: Food | Italian Food | Recipes | Food Memories | Holiday Traditions

Happy New Year

Wishing all my blog friends best wishes for a happy, healthy and tasty 2007!

2006 in words and pictures...

Got this idea from Frectis, who I found through my midday surfing of holildailies.

1. -
2. I never know how to start these things...
3. Somewhere between the "Gorton's fisherman" Fridays of my childhood (complete with a commercial tartar sauce my brother euphemistically referred to as "pickles and puke") and my later discovery of (and ultimate obsession with) all things sushi, I think I lost touch with the whole Lenten sacrifice thing.
4. Friday finds us Nibbling again.
5. Day one of the Eat Local Challenge finds your heroine headed to Whole Foods -- for perhaps the very first time without a shopping list -- on a quest for foods produced locally.
6. What to do with halibut caught locally in Half Moon Bay?
7. “Some people wanted champagne and caviar when they should have had beer and hot dogs.” (Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1890-1969)
8. August in Northern California brings some of my favorite colorful fruits and vegetables to the table.
9. In the scheme of things, it's rather plain and unassuming.
10. Somehow I made it through...Didn't know how lost I was until I found you...
11. Welcome to November.
12. I remember the moment like it was yesterday.

There you have it. The first sentences of the first posts for each month of 2006. It's been quite a journey through the magical, mystical world of food. (And you can bet I'm going to be pondering my first words of 2007 carefully...

Technorati Tags: Memes | Holidailies 2006

Tastes of 2006 - The Recipes

As 2006 draws closer to a close, I find myself reviewing the many dishes that have emerged from my kitchen (only a fraction of which I've succeeded in capturing in these pages). In "Tastes, Part II" I reflect on some of the recipes I've tried -- and the inspiration behind them.

Some people believe cooking for one or two people is more effort than it's worth. I'm glad I at least occasionally made the effort:

• In February I rediscoveed how delightful it can be to spend a day or two in the kitchen with someone you love.
• Sometims a little self-indulgence when you're sick is the best medicine of all.
• In an attempt to recreate a Kentucky Fried favorite, we tried out this recipe. Interesting, but not what we were looking for. Back to the drawing board.
  
• Who needs takeout? Proving that food elitists we are NOT, nachos and beer are the perfect accompaniament to a Friday night at home with the remote control.
• After a month of out-of-town eating in March, I was eager to play a little Whole Foods roulette -- and quite pleased with the results.
• And I'm proud of this springtime solution for using up leftovers.
  

Google This! With a virtual cookbook library at my fingertips, I've drawn inspiration for weeknight dinners from all over the Internets:

• Last spring I committed to a month of "eating locally" from ingredients sourced within a 150 mile radius of home. In the process I learned a lot, and discovered some sensational recipes I know will be "repeaters" in my kitchen. Halibut Olympia was just one of many new favorites.
• I reminded myself that just because a recipe doesn't turn out pretty doesn't mean it doesn't TASTE great when I made a Ginger Scented Pear Cake I found during a web search for pear recipes.
• Emeril may be an annoying furry little troll, but his recipes have never failed me. July's Black Cod with Basil Cream Sauce was simple and satisfying.
• Black Cod was a recurring theme on my menus this year. My favorite sprintime preparation was Sablefish with Strawberry Balsamic Sauce. Simple, satisfying, sexy AND scrumptious.
  

One of the most rewarding things about creating in the kitchen is sharing the output with friends and family:

• While I don't have recipes to share, helping the Nibblers team to feed Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless was an experience I'll never forget.
  
• For April's supper club dinner we contributed a sensational salad to the Italian feast.
  
• November 18, 2006 was our 6th annual open house -- a chance to visit with friends before the hectic holiday season gets underway. We cook for days in preparation - two of many superstar recipes on this year's menu are Dom's Mom's Meatballs and Peabody's amazing Pumpkin Cheesecake.
  

When I found myself searching for inspiration, I could count on my fellow food bloggers gave me the energy I needed to get back in the kitchen and try something new.

• It's probably the Iron Chef fan in me. I love the challenge of working with a set of prescribed ingredients to come up with a recipe. I did it twice this year. The Monthly Mingle challenge for October was to create a recipe using zucchini and sage. Taking inspiration from another blogger, I made a Roasted Zucchini Soup with Fried Sage that turned out to be one of my favorite recipes of the year. In July I took a couple ears of corn, a handful of pinenuts, a tablespoon or two of coriander and with a little internet reserach, created Coriander-Scented Coconut Creamed Corn. Say THAT five times fast!
• A call for autumn inspired salads prompted me to pull out an old favorite: my 1000 Calorie Salad. A fair amount of effort, but worth it.
  
• Surely you've heard of Sugar High Friday? Jennifer the Domestic Goddess created this tribute to sucrose and her sisters -- a monthly opportunity to indulge in the sweeter side of the kitchen. Indulge I certainly did. For July's international ice cream social, I pulled out the ice cream attachment to my trusty kitchen aid and made Meyer Lemon Gelato. Sans-oven, my surprise for September was that Sugar High Friday became Sugar High Monday -- but my Ginger Spice Cakes with Pumpkin Pastry Cream were a hit at the office. And decided that truffle-making really belongs in the hands of professionals.
  
• October 16, 2006 was World Bread Day, and the food blogging world celebrated with a momentus bread bake-off coordinated by a blogger in Germany. My contribution: focaccia.
• Over the course of the year, my food blogging friends in Australia introduced me to one of my newest inspirations: Donna Hay. I eagerly jumped on the bandwagon and "Hay, Hay, it's Donna Day" became one of my favorite monthly events. I braved bruchetta. Spawned some Sassy Savory Tartlettes.
  
• The holiday season brought a Festive Food Fair, for which I dusted off my dad's recipe for Persimmon Fruit Cake.
  

Technorati Tags: Recipes | Food | Cooking

Cookies for Santa

Another food-focused writing prompt from Holidailies participant Planet Pooks: A recipe swap. The directive is to post a favorite holiday recipe, explaining its significance. Since I covered the Persimmon Cake in November and plan to tackle Touthlatch (Ravioli) after the first of the year, I thought I'd share a new recipe -- one I discovered this year that will be have a recurring role on my holiday cookie plate.

Chocolate Pine Nut Cookies
as published in Fine Cooking Magazine

1/2 pound (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
4 1/2 ounces (1 cup) confectioners sugar (more for dusting, optional)
1 ounce (1/3 cup plus 1 Tablespoon) unsweetened natural cocoa powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
pinch of table salt
1/2 pound (1 3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup toasted pine nuts, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts, for garnish

heat the oven to 325. With a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla and salt until smooth and creamy. Add the flour and chopped pine nuts and mix on low speed until well combined.

Shape 1 tablespoon scoops of dough into round balls and arrange on parchment-lined baking sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart. Flatten each slightly and press 3 pine nuts into the top of each cookie.

Bake cookies until the tops look dry, about 18 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring cookies to a rack to cool completely. Dust with confectioners sugar, if desired.

Yield: 46 cookies.

Enjoy this grown-up take on the peanut butter cookie!


Technorati Tags: Recipes | Holiday Recipes | Cookies

Indulging my inner list-geek: a taste of 2006 (Part 1)

Here we are again, approaching the end of one year and the beginning of another. Presenting list geeks everywhere with the opportunity to assess the state of the world in one of our favorite formats. Yep, you got it: Lists! Lots and lots of lists!

Today I reflect on the restaurant meals we've eaten over the course of the past year:

• In spite of a statistically significant number of Friday nights spent at Table Number Eleven, we did manage to sample many other bay area eateries.
• Post-bocce dining proved a mixed bag: some wins, some losses.
• When we weren't Nibbling, we were often exploring the sushi scene. We've enjoyed Nigiri sushi. Maki sushi. Stunt sushi. Trendy sushi. Expensive sushi. Cheap sushi.
• Fine dining was also a hit or miss proposition. Piatti Locali was a hit. Espetus and The Melting Pot, not so much so.
• We returned to some perennial favorites, even when they didn't always live up to our expectations.
• We explored the cuisines of many cultures near and far...
• Dined like royalty on the vacation of a lifetime...
• And enjoyed plenty of pizza, burgers and the occasional hot dog closer to home.

Stay tuned for part two: the recipes we prepared at home.

Technorati Tags: Restaurants | Reflections

Chestnuts roasting? Figgy pudding?

Finally the folks at holidailies have come up with some food-focused writing prompts. Today's query comes to us from The Write Coast: What's the one food it simply wouldn't be [your winter holiday of choice] without?

You can forget the eggnog. Don't bother preheating the oven for a marathon of cookie baking madness. And I've already explained my feelings about fruitcake. It's not a perfectly trimmed tree, mistletoe and holly, sparkly yard lights or piles of packages in festive wrapping.

For me, the holiday season's not complete until we break out the pasta roller and assemble my father's Aunt Lena's legendary ravioli.

Mo (and presumably Lena before him) called them "toothlatch". No amount of googling has satisfied my curiosity about the origin of the name. The result as Mo made them were pillows of ricotta & swiss chard-stuffed pasta slightly larger than traditional ravioli. Adorned quite simply in melted butter and grated parmesan, sprinkled with toasted pine nuts.

My must-have holiday kitchen tradition's going to be a little late this season. Sickness and scheduling issues have pushed the production back a week. Stay tuned -- we'll be making ravioli (and I'll share the recipe and the process) on New Years Day....

Technorati Tags: Food | Food Memories | Holidailies 2006

For the first time

"Minor things can become moments of great revelation when encountered for the first time" -Margot Fonteyn

There's something magical about 'firsts'. First words. First steps. First kisses. First tastes of something brand new.

John and I are ten years and many wonderful memories past our first kiss. And not ready to dive into the commitment required for first words or steps -- except perhaps vicariously through our nieces and nephews. So -- especially given our shared passion for food -- we rarely pass up the opportunity to share a first taste.

Enter Chris. At eighteen, he thinks he might want to be a chef someday. But not a pastry chef because in his estimation pastry chefs don't get women. Okay, so he's got a lot to learn...

But that's another story for another post. A typical teenager, Chris loves meat. But he's cautious about anything he perceives as ethnic food -- Asia and South America reside of different planets in Chris' culinary universe.

John and I are on a mission to change that. And what better way to introduce a teenage carnivore to the many flavors of Asia than a field trip for Korean Barbecue, a cuisine whose cornerstone Ruth Reichl has described as "Bulgoki... the barbecued beef of the Far East"?

So Saturday morning, we loaded up the cars and caravanned south for The Palace Korean Barbecue Buffet in Sunnyvale. On arrival, the hostess surveyed our party for several seconds, clearly not sure what to make of us: Nine Caucasians -- four adults, two teenage boys two giggly adolescent girls and a fifth teenager, quieter and more mature than the others. Clearly not their average Saturday afternoon clientele. As she seated us at two tables toward the back of the restaurant, I suspect she had reservations about leaving the young people alone with open flame. Hmmm. Perhaps before we introduced Chris and Company to the concept of Korean BBQ, we should have reviewed the rules?

In the end, they did just fine. As we were seated and the waitress fired up the tabletop grills, John explained the premise: Three "buffet" lines. One for the raw meat you'd bring back to your table and cook. Sweet & salty bulgogi. Rich & succulent kalbi, or short ribs. Teriyaki chicken. Spicy pork loin. Marinated calamari. For the more adventurous: chicken gizzards, tripe, tongue, pork belly, and baby octopus. A second buffet line for the Korean side dishes (and a couple of buffet-style Banchan) - spicy kimchi, pickled cucumbers, meatballs and the ubiquitous eggrolls among the many selections there. Between these a mountain of clean plates (since you'll want to segregate your raw meat from the side dishes and the cooked meat) and a small salad bar. The kids nodded and off we went.

We returned from the buffet to stake out our real estate on the grills and found the waitress had delivered our beverages and supplied each table with tongs for managing meat on the grill and scissors for cutting your meat bite-sized. Since the kids had opted for their own table, John did double-duty -- eating on the adult side and drifting to the other table to make explanations, answer questions and take pictures. It was rewarding to watch as the teens -- especially the boys -- open their minds to things they'd never experienced before. They loved the cook-your-own aspect and were soon sworn devotees of the kalbi. We'd done it -- Chris was hooked on his first foray into Asian cuisine.

Okay fine, but where's the review? What about the food?

While it's not fine dining, The Palace certainly one of the best buffets in the greater bay area. We don't do buffet-style dining very often. When we do, a key to getting us to return is consistency -- a hallmark at The Palace. For $15.00 (at lunch, slightly higher for dinner), you can expect a clean environment (critical for a buffet), friendly, courteous service and high-quality fresh fare for barbecue. The side dishes are admittedly (but again consistently) mediocre -- but you're not going for the sides. When you DO opt for a salad or a small plate of noodles, you can be assured that while they're not local/organic/sustainable or for the matter much more than iceberg or chow mein -- they've also not been sitting in an ice bath or under a heat lamp for hours... or days. So if you're in Sunnyvale and in the mood for good quality Korean barbecue, be sure to check out The Palace.

The Palace Barbecue Buffet
1092 E. El Camino Real, Sunnyvale |

Other Online Reviews: Life, Love AND Food
Jason & Terry's Bay Area Review
Technorati Tags: Food | Restaurants | Korean Restaurants | Bay Area Restaurants

Beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Technorati Tags: Christmas Traditions

A menu for hope...

$15, 000.00

$20,000.00

$25,000.00

Okay, I give up... for an up-to-the minute tally of how much the food blogging community has raised for the UN World Food Programme, check out the donation page.

What? In the unlikely event that you've missed the excitement and have no idea what I'm talking about, allow me to explain. Now in its third year, Menu for Hope is Pim Techamuanvivit's brainchild -- and the food blogging community's opportunity to step forward and make have a real impact on world hunger. Last year's event raised over $17,000 for UNICEF. And we're well on our way to $30,000.00 in 2006.

How does it work? Food bloggers from around the world have donated a collection of wonderful prizes. An unforgettable meal at Manresa or an afternoon coffee with *the* Thomas Keller. Autographed cookbooks from some of the world's most famous chefs and foodies. A handful of interesting classes and once-in-a-lifetime experiences sure to expand your culinary horizons.

A ten dollar donation gives you a virtual raffle ticket for the prize of your choice.

Go.

Check out all the wonderful prizes Pim and her team have lined up for you. Pick one or two or ten you can't live without.

Then head over to the donation page and follow the simple instructions for making your contribution and selecting your prize(s).

But hurry. The campaign ends on December 22. There are only a few days left to get in on the action. And to make a difference during this season of giving.

The original goal for Menu for Hope III was $25,000.00. The program's well on its way to doubling that. Help us make that happen.

Technorati Tags: Food Blog Events | Menu For Hope

Sick, again.

After a week and a half of the "coughing, sneezing, aching, stuffy-head-fever-so-I-can-rest-medicine" I've had it. Move over Nyquil. Step aside, Sudafed. I'm bringing in the heavy artillery of home remedies. In my household, that's a shot of bourbon and two tablespoons of honey in a glass of warm orange juice.

What about you? What's *your* tried and true cure for the common cold? Let me know in the comments -- I'm getting desperate here!

Retro Recipe Paydirt!

I'll admit it.

The challenges over at Retro Recipes have captured my attention for several months now. I followed Mr Peabody and Sherman on a culinary tour of the twentieth century, as each participant contributed a recipe published near their birth year. And last month's challenge, a collection of retro fall favorites.

I'll also confess I've been feeling a bit left out. Like a kid wearing a cast on the sidelines at an impromptu neighborhood baseball game. I *wanted* to play -- but I couldn't. In my case, no cool toys. No retro recipes.

But much to my delight, all of that changed a couple of weeks ago. Going through yet another box of my parents' things trying to find them space in my home, I came a small green recipe binder. Hmm. I'd seen it before -- I could close my eyes and picture it in my childhood home today. But I'd never paid a lot of attention to it. Curiosity got the better of me and I sat down to go through it.

The inside font cover states the book's purpose succinctly: "This book is the homemaker's file for her personal recipes, the family favorites, and many ideas clipped from magazines and newspapers. Use the envelopes provided under the proper headings for the printed clippings. Later, when they prove their worth, paste them on the plain paper. The lined paper is for recording your own recipes, menus and guest lists.

Well in my case, the lined and plain paper all remain in their original location at the back of the book, but each of the 12 sectional envelopes are stuffed with recipes clipped from newspapers and magazines in the 1940's, 50's, and 60's. Hallelujah, I've hit the retro-recipe motherlode!

Though I can't be positive, I suspect my newest treasured recipe collection belonged to my mother. Though she wasn't the cook in the family, the carefully clipped recipes bespeak her handiwork -- Mo would have just ripped pages out of whatever publication interested him. I also don't suspect many of these recipes got made in my parents kitchen -- whatever whim they captured that caused Mom to cut them out and file them away never caused her to go back to her collection for culinary inspiration.

I suspect that as I try some of them in my kitchen -- for the retro challenge or for the hell of it -- I'm going to have questions. Who spotted this one? What appealed to them? Did anyone make it?

My contribution to the December Boozy Holiday challenge is obvious immediately: a cordial-and-gelatine combination first published in the Oakland Tribune on Sunday December 2, 1962. Home economics writer Martha Lee promises to provide me with "two in one -- an after dinner cordial in dessert perfect for holiday entertaining."

I'm sold. I carefully gather up my yellowed newspaper clipping and head to the liquor cabinet to get to work on my Bavarian Mint.

1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup sugar, divided
1/2 cup cold water
3 eggs, separated
1/4 cup green creme de menthe
1/4 cup white creme de cacao
1 cup heavy cream, whipped

Martha instructs me to mix together gelatine, 1/4 cup sugar and salt in the top of a double boiler. Stir in water then egg yolks (one at a time) stirring to blend well. Place over boiling water and cook, stirring constantly, until gelatine is dissolved and mixture thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. (I'm glad I have some previous experience with custard here, or I suspect I might have been in danger of scrambling the egg yolk a bit.)

Remove from water. Stir in creme de menthe and creme de cacao. Chill until mixture is the consistency of unbeaten egg whites.

Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. (again, previous experience is helpful here, she doesn't give us a lot of direction.) Gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until very stiff. Fold into gelatine mixture. Turn into a cup serving bowl. Chill until firm.

If desired, garnish with additional whipped cream and chocolate curls.

Okay... a couple of observations.

First, my attempt didn't yield 5 cups. I suspect Martha missed a step. The ingredient list calls for 1 cup of heavy cream, whipped, but except for as a garnish, it's never mentioned in the body of the recipe. Since the faded photograph of the final product looks far more voluminous than mine, I think I should have incorporated some whipped cream in there somewhere. Ah well.

Second, Martha proudly claims that while Bavarian Mint is "a simple dessert to make" (she's right there) "it looks elaborate enough to delight the most discerning gourmet." Hmm. Maybe hers does. Mine pretty much looks like a green jello salad.

Technorati Tags: Recipes | Dessert | Food Blog Events | Food Memes | Retro Recipe Challenge #5

Unconscious Mutterings

Found this surfing through the Holidailies entries last week, and thought I'd give it a shot. The premise is free association, which LunaNina (a bona fide psychology major) defines as "psychonanalytic procedure in which a person is encouraged to give free rein to his or her thoughts and feelings, verbalizing whatever comes into the mind without monitoring its content."

She posts ten words.

I reply with the first word or words that come to mind.

Here goes...

1. Research :: Paper


2. Chuck :: Wagon


3. Insert :: Card Here


4. Bang :: A Gong


5. Lousy :: Rotten Scoundrel


6. Rehearsal :: Dinner


7. Critics :: Corner


8. Memory :: Lapse


9. Squid :: Ink Pasta


10. Remove :: All Tags Before Wearing

Technorati Tags: Unconscious Mutterings

Color from shades of grey - a paradigm-shifting meal

In this my third installment of the Butterfly Effect Meme I am asked to explore the defining meal -- the one experience that forever altered the way I look at food. If part 2 was hard, this one was easy. On a cold January evening in 1996 new friends introduced me to a strange and exotic cuisine and there was no looking back. My culinary transformation took place in a four-table sushi bar in San Mateo. In thirty minutes, Koji changed the way I experience food.

Technorati Tags: Food | Sushi | Food Memes | Food Blog Events | Food Memories

Dear Santa...

Dear Santa,

I want it all!

Seasons Greetings,
CC











Technorati Tags: Holidailies 2006

The anti-recipe - a sensual journey through one woman's kitchen

Part two of the thought-provoking six-part Butterfly Effect meme has me pondering the single recipe or dish that has forever altered my "foodie life". This one's a challenge -- I can think of lots of candidates, most of them heirloom or signature dishes I've collected over the years from those who have most indelibly marked my journey with food:

The first and most obvious -- toothlatch -- the ricotta and chard ravioli that my family and I rolled out on an ironing board every Christmas season. A headliner on the Christmas Eve buffet table between the baccalau salad and the smoked salmon, my great grandmother's ravioli are the closest our family comes to an heirloom recipe -- at least from my father's side. But the story of passing the tradition on to my nephews will have to wait for another post...

From there the possibilities are endless: the neighbor who taught me how to make zucchini fritters from summer's bounty, Aunt Linda's signature torta di riso, Andy's grandmother's Rainier cherry pie, John's mom's saurbraten or her pommes frites.

Each of these dishes has its own story to tell (and tell it they will, in their own time). But after much deliberation, I decided the story behind THIS post lies in one of my first cooking classes at the hands and in the kitchen of my parents' friend Maria -- and her non-recipe for chiles rellenos.

At fourteen, I'd done my time as an American and Italian sous chef. My mirpoix passed both my father and Henriette's inspection for inclusion in the Thanksgiving stuffing. I could make a mean hollandaise and a bernaise sauce. And I'd assisted with prepping, rolling and stuffing several hundred pounds of the aforementioned toothlatch. I knew my way around a kitchen and a recipe. I was ready to broaden my horizons, tackle new techniques, new cuisines.

And Maria was happy to indulge me -- and to teach me how very much I didn't know.

In hindsight, I'm a bit embarrassed about how very little of Maria's story I know. She was born and raised in a small village of Mexico. Moving to California as a young adult in search of the proverbial American dream, she settled in Oakland where she lived for over 60 years -- and where she and her husband crossed paths with my parents and forged a lifelong friendship. I know she lived a difficult life in Mexico -- one she rarely spoke of. She was a strong, gentle, stoic woman -- a role model in ways it's taken me a lifetime to discover.

But back to the kitchen. That warm summer afternoon found me as confused as a Top Chef candidate staring at a vending machine searching for inspiration. Maria presented me with a list of ingredients. No quantities. No instructions. Just ingredients.

"What's this? a shopping list? Where's the recipe?"

She smiled her soft, patient smile and sighed, "There's no recipe." We were going to do this entirely by feel, by instinct. Gathering the chiles from the counter, the flour from the pantry, the eggs and cheese from the refrigerator, I knew I was out of my league. I also knew I was going to learn. I had no idea how very much.

I abandoned note taking almost immediately, realizing I'd miss more than I'd capture with that approach. In subsequent attempts to learn the kitchen secrets of my food friends I often employed a tape recorder. With Maria I simply stood back and absorbed as much as I could.

She taught me how to pick the best chiles from the batch, roast and peel them. How to determine when the egg whites had the right consistency. Where in the Mexican grocery to find the cheese -- no plain Monterey Jack would do. How to slice it so that it melted consistently. The proper proportion of egg yolk to flour -- and the pale lemon yellow of the yolk mixture when they had been beaten to perfection. Folding it all together and dipping in the stuffed chiles without breaking the batter. Frying them to crisp-tender and finishing them in a low oven.

I've made chiles rellenos a dozen or so times since that first lesson. I've almost always consulted a published recipe. But I've never used it as more than a guideline. More often than not, my result is a qualified success. And when it's not, I know why not. I added burned the chiles. Added too much flour to the egg yolk. The oil was too hot or not hot enough. And I can identify these same mistakes when I order them from a restaurant kitchen. I cannot eat a chile relleno without wondering what Maria would think.

Maria taught me that a large part of the cooking process is sensual, tactile. Not how much or how long or at what temperature. But how it looks, how it feels, how it tastes, how it smells. That's changed how I approach everything I make, from pancake batter to salad dressing. No matter how closely I follow the recipe, I also consider the texture, taste and color -- and I'm not afraid to adjust accordingly until it looks/feels/smells right.

You just can't get that out of a recipe or a cookbook. And although I don't have a treasured family recipe for Maria's chiles rellenos, I can't help but feel I have so very much more.

Technorati Tags: Food Memes | Food Blog Events | Food Memories

A is for Avocado - One ingredient changes everything

"I remember when I was around 12 I learned about the three A's for the first time: asparagus**, artichokes**, and avocados. I think I tried all three for the first time in the same year, and they've been favorites of mine ever since." -David Reiley*

In my case I was eight, and it was avocados -- but not for the first time.

Until I was 8, I *hated* avocados.

The springtime salads of my childhood arrived at the table colorfully adorned with the colors of the Italian flag -- bright red raspberries or strawberries, crisp white jicama and buttery pale green avocados.

And I religiously picked the offending bits of avocado out and quarantined them on the edge of the plate, wiping my fork to eliminate all possible contamination.

Until one fateful afternoon midway through my eighth year.

I had a crush on the sandy-haired, hazel-eyed boy who sat behind me in school. The shy, quiet type. Introspective. Not terribly athletic. A smile that warmed me from the inside out. Sadly, he didn't seem to realize we shared oxygen.

I spent several weeks exploring my options. He was a smart kid, no candidate for a tutor. He displayed no interest in sports, so I couldn't impress him with my ability to hit a fast ball.

After much deliberation, I decided to seduce him with my secret weapon: my grandmother's amazing chocolate chip cookies.

I didn't know it at the time, but this would become a lifelong pattern for me. Many of my most memorable relationships -- romantic and platonic alike -- began with a shared love of food.

I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. I had the attention of the object of my affection. He loved my cookies. In return he wanted to share his lunch with me. A super submarine sandwich on a deli roll. Stuffed with mortadella and salami, spicy brown mustard, lettuce, tomatoes and onions. And adorned with... avocado!?!?!?

Damn.

I had zero experience with relationships, but I was confident that picking apart his sandwich might derail our budding romance. And worst case, he could infer from my reaction that I was picky or high maintenance and lose interest altogether.

Can't have that.

So I closed my eyes, opened my mind, and bit in.

Hmmm.

I didn't gag. It wasn't bad. I took another bite. It was pretty good.

Who knew?

And in that moment I set another pattern in motion -- no matter what my previous experience with an ingredient or a recipe, if the future of my love life depends on it, I will close my eyes, open my mind, and swallow whatever's put in front of me. I haven't always LIKED it. But I have always been willing to stretch my culinary comfort zone in the name of love.

So where'd we go from there? Dave Reiley* and I swapped school photos and "went together" for a week and a half. After which he unceremoniously dumped me for the blonde who sat in the last row. Whose mother made fudge.

I soothed my heartache with the latest issue of Tiger Beat, a good friend with a broad shoulder, and a bowl of guacamole.

* Not the same David Reiley, but the coincidence was too good to pass up.

** For the record, asparagus and artichokes make my A-list too.

Technorati Tags: Food Memes | Food Blog Events | Food Memories

Change one thing, change EVERYTHING

It has been said something as small as the flutter of a butterfly's wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world. -The Butterfly Effect, 2004

When writer's block strikes (as it will, after a marathon of more than thirty days) I find myself turning to some of the memes I've followed over the last year for inspiration. I spent the summer compelled by some of the most fascinating "what if" stories -- a result of Dan from Salt Shaker's Butterfly Effect meme.

The premise: expound on the the small, simple food items or events that forever altered the way you view the world. He offers the following categories:

1. An ingredient
2. A dish, a recipe
3. A meal (in a restaurant, a home, or elsewhere)
4. A cookbook or other written work
5. A food “'personality'” (chef, writer, etc.)
6. Another person in your life

Stay tuned: Between now and January 1 I will reflect on each of these categories individually, sharing the small epiphanies that have spurred my culinary curiosity...

Technorati Tags: Food Memes | Food Blog Events

Playing with Sugar

Now I want a Sugar High Friday do-over.

Because if waited to attempt the Caramel Truffles until after Shuna showed us the "wet sand" method, I might've had a prayer.

Or at the very least I'd have known how to clean my saucepan...

Technorati Tags: Food | Dessert | Baking Classes

Spin chain and exchange the gears -- November's recipe roundup

Warning... I've got enough obscure square dance references to last me through several years worth of monthly recipe roundups.

Here's what I flagged for trying in November. Squash, persimmons, warm winter spices and goat cheese take center stage. Enjoy!

Salads:
Kitchenography's Curly Endive Salad -- because everything tastes better with bacon & goat cheese!

Soups -- perfect rainy day lunch fare
A classic Pumpkin Soup from one of my first friends in the blog world, a Thai Spiced adaptation from Heidi @ 101 Cookbooks, or this sweet-savory version provided by The Passionate Cook.
A scientific approach to Cream of Mushroom Soup.
And Peabody temporarily trades her mixer and oven for a stockpot and blender as she shares an artery-clogging if soul-soothing Potato-Cheese Soup.

Sides:
I'll soak up that soup with some of Joe's Onion & Fontina Beer Bread.
Sweet and savory and oh-so-seasonal: Gluten Free by the Bay's Roast Butternut Squash with Sage makes the perfect accompaniment to simply sauteed chicken breasts.
Vanilla Garlic's simple but sensational Potato Bake.
C for Cooking offers creative suggestions for Stuffed Squash.
Orangette's marvelous if disappearing Squash Puree.
A great application for leftover fall herbs: Je Mange la Ville's Herbed Biscuits.

Main Dishes:
Nothing says fall like strudel, and The Passionate Cook's Pumpkin & Chestnut concoction is just the remedy for a cold evening in.
Lex Culinaria shares a light but hearty Fish Dumpling recipe -- with a well-stocked pantry a pretty plate doesn't take hours to create.
Everyone's favorite Creampuff offers a soul-satisfying Butternut Squash Gratin. There's that goat cheese again...
The next time I need a W-O-W dish for a dinner party, I'm going to try Prosciutto-Wrapped Pesto-Stuffed Salmon from the Culinary Chase. Three ingredients. Almost zero preparation. Ultra-extravagant.

Desserts:
One brilliant application of November's answer to tropical fruit after another: Persimmon Madeleines from Cook & Eat and Simply Recipes' Persimmon Pudding Cake are two of my favorites.
After our recent home-run with Peabody's Pumpkin Cheesecake, almost everything she creates makes my list -- especially this creative employment of cranberries! She can improvise in MY kitchen any time...
"Bastardized" or no, Eating Suburbia's twist on a classic cookie is a must try!
Your heroine is glad that Julie gave into the holiday baking pressure -- and shared this Pumpkin Cake.
Just look at that photo -- yeah, I could eat the whole coffee cake.
Comfort food comes in all flavors -- and layers -- Foodbeam's take on Millionaire's Shortbread will drive the winter blahs into submission.
Salted Caramel is the new French Vanilla. I'll take two scoops Molly!

Onion Soup photograph courtesy of Cooking for Engineers. Cranberry Poundcake photograph courtesy of Culinary Concoctions by Peabody.

Technorati Tags: Food | Recipes

Welcome Hollidailies Readers...

For those of you finding your way here through the Hollidailies website, welcome to my little corner of the world. Pull up a chair, grab some ice cream or a hearty bowl of soup. Join me on a tour of some of the bay area's best restaurants and farmer's markets. And allow me to share my "food philosophy...

Repeat after me: I am NOT a foodie. Yes, I have a passion for food -- how it's grown, how it's prepared, how it's marketed. What makes an efficient home kitchen. What makes a successful commercial kitchen.

But it's not about what's new and trendy and hot. I can be as happy with a Chicago-style hotdog on a park bench as the sleekest sexiest stunt sushi. Sometimes happier. Food is about family and friends and community. It offers me a connection to my past, an opportunity to learn, grow, create and share.

That's what this space is about. Sharing some of that with all of you.

Bon Appetit!

Technorati Tags: Hollidailies 2006 | Food Blogging

Rites of passage

I remember the moment like it was yesterday. I was a week away from my sixth birthday. It was about 4:00 on a warm but breezy Tuesday afternoon. I was so excited I hadn't bothered to stop to change out of my uniform -- just tied the bright blue sweater around my waist.

I walked up the stone steps of the neighborhood Lbrary, reached up to open the heavy wooden door, walked up to the pretty lady with pink lipstick that matched her sweater who smiled at me warmly. I handed her a copy of the Highlights magazine that proved my residence and announced I wanted to apply for a library card.

Thus began what's been a life-long relationship with the library system.

Over the years it provided plenty of fodder for elementary school book reports. A wealth of informaton for high school projects and college theses. Its spacious couch was a comfortable perch to curl up with a good story on a drizzly afternoon. And one of my favorite community service projects was spending Thursday afternoons with my sorority sisters reading to young children just learning how exciting the world inside a book could be. More recently, its newspaper and local history collections provide windows to the past when I pitch in to help with a genealogy puzzle John's trying to solve.

And recently, the memories recounted above came flooding back as I once again stood in line at the reference desk to turn in an application for a library card. There's something simply awe-inspiring about the potential the little plastic card represents -- new and exciting cultures and climates and cuisines to explore.

In 1970-something, I started my journey through the library's collection with the story of Laura Ingalls and her pioneer family. Over 30 years later, I opt to explore the world through Tony Bourdain's eyes. No... let's not reflect on what these facts say about me psychologically...

Technorati Tags: Reflections