Christmastime Cooking, 2009

I’ve done a lot of cooking and baking in the last few weeks. (Well, for me anyway.)  Unfortunately, I haven’t done a lot of photographing of my cooking and baking. What can I say? It’s winter, and the in-house lighting is somewhat yellow.

Anyway, most of the recipes I used turned out pretty well (and I will conveniently forget the ones that didn’t).  So in the interest of excusing my lack of fun picture posts (and I know how much you all are missing those), here are some of my kitchen productions. (P.S. I’ve got a lot of my favorite recipes saved at TastyKitchen; if you don’t know what it is, you should really check it out.)

For Church Events:

Bite-Sized Ice Cream Sundaes — for my youth small group (11-12th grade girls).  These work better when they have a lot  more time to set after the chocolate coating (I only had about 20 minutes), but even so, they still turned out pretty good.  My girls absolutely loved them, and it was a nice treat for our last meeting before Christmas break.

Marbled Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge — for my church small groups’ big Christmas get-together.  I cut the recipe in half.  It looked a little messy at first (and at the end too, honestly) but it actually tasted really good (I was told).  It all got eaten, at least!

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Italian Cookies — for the small groups’ get-together.  One more recipe that I halfed.  It still came out to about 40 cookies, which was plenty, and they were light and fluffy, and it was really difficult not to eat them all myself.

For Christmas Eve:

Marlboro Man’s Second Favorite Sandwich –   I wanted something easy so I could relax with family before Christmas, and this was it.  It was my first time actually cooking chicken without any interruptions (read: help), and it turned out just great.

Apple Cake in an Iron Skillet — I halfed the recipe for this one as well, so it would fit in my 8-inch cast iron skillet. A brilliant idea if I do say so myself.  This cake turned out almost perfectly and went great with the madagascan vanilla ice cream I had on hand.

For Christmas Day:

Perfect Pancakes –  Another first for me — pancakes.  The batter was a  little thick at first, but it turned out great anyway. (My dad helped me thin it out a bit.) Not bad for my first try.  And since it made smaller pancakes, I had leftover batter to freeze for later. (One of those gifts that keeps on giving things that are so enjoyable.)

Hot Homemade Apple Cider –  Easy peasy.  I didn’t dilute the apple juice with the water initially — my family like strong cider.  And it went so quickly that I did have to dilute the refill to make it last.

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Buttered Rosemary Rolls — This was such a hit at Thanksgiving, and so simple (watch bread rise, then top with herbs and bake) that I couldn’t pass up the chance to do it again.

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And:

French Breakfast Puffs — for the day after Christmas.  Actually, this recipe was in one of my new cookbooks (I got Pioneer Woman for Christmas!).  I cut the recipe in half (again) since I didn’t really need them. (But when you’ve got the ingredients and the time, how can you resist?)

[Via http://ajoyfulltime.wordpress.com]

Just a Quick Note...

Obviously, I have not been here lately. We started on a healthier eating kick, and while we do feel much better eating in such a way, it’s not so conducive (yet) to trying new recipes and writing about them. It started with going back to good-for-you (but can-be-boring) meals.

Of course, then came the holidays. We began celebrating the first weekend in December, since that’s when my parents came out for a visit to share Christmas with them. Then the rest of the month flew on by…

Next, we are leaving soon for a long weekend getaway to sunny San Diego, where we’ll be celebrating my upcoming ‘milestone’ birthday. I am very much looking forward to that!

So, once we return home and get back into our more ‘normal’ routine, we’ll return to our new-ish ways of healthier eating for a spell. (It was just the holiday season, after all…) Then, I do hope to play in the kitchen more and incorporate more of the good-for-you-ness into our meals and cooking fun…

[Via http://thefoodgroove.wordpress.com]

Notes from Haiti: Restaveks

All around the world, cooks come in many shapes, ages, and dispositions.

Many of these cooks are children, helping in the kitchens of wealthy people. In some cases, the arrangement veers on the edge of slavery, not employment.

And in Haiti, an outright form of slavery still exists.

A recent Huffington Post article, “Report Says 225,000 Haiti Children Work as Slaves,” contains no real new information. Poor families –  and in Haiti there are many — give up their children for small sums of money or just  to have one less mouth to feed. A report by the Pan American Development Foundation details the difficult lives that these children lead. Relationships between the children and the wealthier families they live with tend to be based on kinship in some cases, as well as a simple boarding arrangements. But in the final analysis, the bottom line determines the way the “host” families treat these children, called “restaveks.”

Several years ago when we lived in Haiti because of work on a USAID* project, one of the activities of the project was a national agricultural survey. Here’s what I wrote at the time:

M___ was hiking around out in the countryside one day, trying to determine the boundaries of some survey segments. Accompanied by several Haitian co-workers, he ended up on the crest of a mountain. [Haiti is VERY mountainous!]. The Haitians never bring water to drink while they hike. They believe the cold water will harm them, I guess, though M___ always drinks water out of his thermos. This particular day, there happened to be a farmer and some little girls up on the ridge. The farmer offered them all water.  The Haitians accepted and drank nearly half of the 5-gallon bucket of one little girl. She began to cry because she now had to go back and refill the bucket. It could be miles that she had to walk to get that water. M___ thought she probably was the farmer’s daughter, but I wondered if she wasn’t rather what in Creole is called a “restavek” or “one who stays with.” It is essentially an ingrained system of slavery, where parents will sell excess children to families who are supposedly better off financially (the price can be as low as 2 gourdes or 40 cents). These new families are ideally supposed to provide schooling and so on, but the actuality for most of these children is a life of servitude. They eat scraps from the table and sleep in a corner on rags. Many of the children carrying water here are “restaveks,” and they wear rags, taunted continuously by the real children of the family. Many never really learn to speak because they are often only spoken to in anger and with grunts.

*United States Agency for International development

[Via http://gherkinstomatoes.com]

Yakitori Chicken with Noodles

The original recipe for Yakitori requires Sake and normal sugar, but I left out the Sake (as the syns would be a lot more)

Serves 2-3 people

4 syns for entire recipe

Ingredients

6 chicken thighs (skin and fat removed) chopped into bitesize pieces

1 carrot shredded

1 red pepper sliced

4 spring onions sliced lengthways and then in half

8 button mushrooms chopped

200g of noodles

3/4 cup of shoyu (japanese soya sauce)

2 tablespoons of mirin

2 tablespoons of sweetener

2 tablespoons of rice vinegar

Method

In a bowl, add the mirin, shoyu, sweetener and vinegar. Add the chicken and leave to marinate in the fridge for 4 hours.

Spray a Wok with frylight and add the chicken with the marinade. Cook until chicken is cooked through, add the mushrooms, pepper, carrot and spring onion and cook for a further few minutes.

Cook the noodles as per the instructions on the packet. Add the noodles to the chicken and vegetables already in the wok and stir to evenly coat.

[Via http://livinglifetheextraeasyway.wordpress.com]

caprese salad

To see an image of this recipe two steps further along, press the arrow to go to the previous post (right-pointing).  I’ve written about the platter of caprese salad in progress there.

Meanwhile, for those of you who are curious, here’s the recipe for this fresh tomato dish, probably my favorite summer appetizer of all time.  Favored because it tastes so wonderful, and doubly favored because it’s so easy and quick to prepare — and requires no extra heat in the kitchen during the hot and humid days of summer.  (By the way, that link will take you to an older post that includes three fabulous basil recipes.)

I couldn’t resist sharing this photograph, especially since 2009 will be my last attempt at growing the beautifully fluted and scalloped Costoluto Genovese tomato.  It slices up so prettily that just looking at this shot was enough to make my resolve waver… but thankfully only for a moment.  I really cannot spare the space in my small kitchen garden for an underperforming heirloom that doesn’t ripen until mid-August and only produces a handful of average-tasting fruits per plant.

The variety is clearly not suited to my bioregion’s climate and soil conditions, because I’ve heard it was prolific and tasty in other gardeners’ plots.  If my other tomatoes had done as poorly, I’d have an excuse to give it another try next year.  But with so many fascinating tomatoes out there, I’m calling Costoluto Genovese a mostly-failed seasonal experiment and moving on to the next one.

Sigh.  Sometimes it’s hard to give up the things that aren’t just right for us.  I’m thinking of lobelia and sweet peas, which I was able to grow so well when I lived in Canada, and red velvet cake and country ham, two treacherous holiday treats which never used to stick to my hips like they do now.

At least there are tricks for temporarily fooling the sweet peas into blooming.

[Via http://victorygardenredux.wordpress.com]

it's mac-n-cheese season

I love any excuse

I pity anyone that gives up dairy and wheat for this reason alone.  Apologies to all vegans/celiacs. 

I’m not sure if I’ve perfected the ultimate macaroni & cheese recipe yet…  must. keep. trying.

• Go crazy (Gourmet)
• One of my faves (Gourmet)
• If you need to pretend it’s healthy food (Eating Well)
• And you know, every once in awhile this is really satisfying (try pronouncing all the ingredients)

[Via http://hungryinhudsonny.wordpress.com]

Operation Big Cittay Boil was a success!

Hello peoples,

so, my sister and I were preparing a low country boil for Christmas dinner yesterday. I took some step by step pictures to show how it all comes together.

The link here goes to my photo album with the pictures.

images of the low country boil

Here is the finished product!

From bigcitayboilxmas2009

Yummy!

It was very good eating, everyone had two bowls… plus the cornbread.

Yeah baby!

-W

[Via http://woogeroo.wordpress.com]

:Christmas 2009:

Our Christmas this year:

Christmas Eve dinner cumi cap Alex, sayur, kepiting saus tiram

kartu Natal biru yang rame

DVD My Sassy Girl

ke gereja

Stardust yang belum selesai

lunch dimsum di TeoChew

film Bodyguards and Assassins yang bikin stres

dinner omelette cap Alex, ikan dora, sup sayur

flu dan bobo pagi

Merry Christmas sayang

[Via http://sebelasoktober.wordpress.com]

Hamtastic

I figure there is a fighting chance that people will read this post before the big holiday meal, and I have some critical information for those of you who will be enjoying a HoneyBaked® ham.

It’s so important that I’m going to put it before the jump.  I never do that.  I always make you click to read more and then wade through some kind of relevant anecdote before I give you the one little nugget of information you want.

So here it is, direct from the official serving instructions of the producer:

HEATING MAY CAUSE THE HAM TO DRY OUT AND LOSE FLAVOR.

The caps and the bold face are mine, but really this statement needs to be much more strongly emphasized on the packaging instructions.

As far as industrially produced meat products go, you could do worse than choosing a HoneyBaked® ham.

I count myself a fan from my very first experience with the product in Raf’s Miami kitchen, wolfing down leftovers with my fingers while standing in front of the open refrigerator.  If he hadn’t laid down the guilt about his family’s plan to eat that remaining ham for another meal, surely I would not have stopped until it was gone.  This was back in my high school days, when I did some serious eating.

The downside to the ham is that whatever the company does to make it superdelicious also makes it very fragile.

To heat it is to ruin it, inside and out.  The meat dries out and loses its salinity.  It needs the saltiness to balance the sweetness of the glaze.  And the mysteriously crunchy and impossible glaze melts away like a day-old ice sculpture.

How do I know this?

I have had far too many ruined HoneyBaked® hams.

The problem is that people either don’t read the instructions, or pay them no heed.  They foolishly prioritize their desire for a warm ham over the tasty intersection of agriculture and technology purchased for the occasion.

The other problem is that as a guest in someone’s house, I have never been able to find a polite way of stopping them from ruining their ham.

Them: “How long do you think this ham should go in the oven?”

Fussy: “I’m pretty sure it’s just supposed to be served room temperature.”

Them: “No, no, no. We always warm it up.”

Fussy: “You don’t happen to have the instructions from the store?”

Them: “I don’t need the instructions, I’m sure it will be fine.”

Short of jumping in front of the oven to block their path, I have found that a determined ham-ruiner cannot be stopped.

At least now if you end up in some similar bind, you can always break out your trusty mobile internet device, and refer your host to this post for the proper care and feeding of that delicious smoked, spiral-sliced and miraculously glazed joint of meat.

You are welcome.  And just in case you don’t check in tomorrow, Merry Christmas.

[Via http://fussylittleblog.com]

Fried Mashed Potatoes

This picture should say it all.  It’s not healthy, it’s not low-fat, but it’s good!  My father made this sometimes when we had some leftover mashed potatoes.  I had made a batch of mashed potatoes the other night and two days later we still had some leftover.  That’s when I remembered these and my father making them.   I got happy thinking about that since it had been so long since I last had them.

I will tell you these work best with cold leftover mashed potatoes.  Don’t try making them with freshly made or they will fall apart.  They still do fall apart a bit when you cook them, but you can rectify that.  I’ll show you how!

Begin with forming some patties of the mashed potatoes.  You don’t want these too big because they will be hard to work with while you pan fry them.   Pack them together nicely and place them on a plate.

Get out a frying pan and place it on the stove.  I prefer to use the cast iron pan for this.  You want one with enough room to flip these and work them around in the pan.  The one I used was too small, but I had something else cooking in the large cast iron pan, so I had to struggle a bit with the smaller one.

Get the pan warm and throw in a couple tablespoons of butter. 

Let the butter brown slightly, but not burn.  Once that’s done, turn the heat down to medium/low and gently place the potato patties in the pan. 

Now this is the hard part.  You MUST leave them alone.  Don’t flip them, push them, pat them, turn them, or move them in any way.  First, they will fall apart on you, and second, you want them to get a beautiful browned crust on the bottom before you flip them.  This could take anywhere from 8 to 10 minutes to do.  The point is to get it nice and browned without burning.  As long as you keep the temperature set to medium/low, you will be just fine. 

You can take a bit of a peak underneath after a few minutes just to see if they are browned enough.  If the are, flip them very carefully.  I find using a somewhat flexible and thin spatula, backwards, works well. 

The inside of the potatoes will become soft and might start to ooze out a bit of the crispy top and bottom.  If this happens, just use the spatula to kind of scoop them back in, while they are still in the frying pan, and sort of reshape them.  Once you get them nice and crispy on both sides, scoop them up, making sure to scrape the crispy bottom with them and flip them on your plate. 

I don’t season these because the mashed potatoes have already been seasoned, and the butter is salted, so they are good to go just like this.  No recipe to follow either.  Just use your own day old, cold mashed potatoes, and fry them up for something different.  The crispy outside mixed with the creamy inside is perfect together!

[Via http://boredcook.wordpress.com]

Obento

obento

Obento means pack lunch in Japanese. If you bring rice in bamboo leaves which has a power to preserve food, that’s Bento, too. Put O- in front of it to respect the food. In Japan, it is a sign of respect when you put O- in front of noun.

I normally make O-bento for my eldest daughter. She goes to college in La Salle Taft, and goes to her ballet right after her classes. She has ballet practice sometimes until 11pm, so only the chance for her to eat is the time in the car, from La Salle to ballet studio in between Buen Dia and Vito Cruz.

This is one of her Obento I made. Brown rice with sesame seeds and salt, with picked radish called Takuan. Tamago-yaki is a traditional sweetened egg. Spinach with sweetened miso and crushed sesame seeds, cherry totatos.

In France, when I was there and wanted to have a packed lunch, and I was trying to explain to a french boy who helped in the kitchen, he called it “picnic (pique-nique).”   Picnic is more like a meal eaten outdoors, and not necessarily means Obento. And in England, they call picnic sometimes potluck or cook out.

[Via http://jinchoge.wordpress.com]

A BOOK A DAY...

I am enamored with a somewhat silly theory, probably steeped in my belief in Jung’s theory of synchronicity, predicated on books falling in your hands at a time when you most need them. So, at three o’clock in the morning, the night before starting my new job, I am trying to fall asleep while finishing an autobiography that had been languishing on my nightstand for weeks.  The narrator in question is Marco Pierre White, whose book is titled “The Devil in the Kitchen”. Most definitely not recommended reading unless you are interested in how to become a 3 star Michelin chef or are dying to know all about the first “rock ‘n roll” chef, way before the Food Network and Gordon Ramsay (who, incidentally, trained under Mr. White).

Besides bringing me back all the way to the ‘80s in a bit of a jog down the  memory lane of my London years – I remember well his famous Harvey’s, on Wandsworth Common – the book had left me unimpressed. It’s hard to read stories mediated by a ghost writer, with a writing so stiff that fails to prod you on and a voice that struggles to get through. Unless it’s three in the morning and I need to sleep and Marco Pierre White is trying to explain to me why he had to leave the kitchen, right in the middle of the particular night when my mind kept me awake trying to rationalize why I had decided to leave the kitchen and my subconscious would have none of it.

In his case, the relentless stress, the monomaniacal focus on food, the lack of time for his new family all contributed to making him see that he was done. And he walked away, returned his  Michelin stars and moved on to a life of leisure. In my case, my job was stressful, it was physically hard and it did railroad my marriage to a certain extent. And did I mention it paid shit? All reasons enough to move on, if not to a life of leisure I cannot afford, at least to a slightly better paid working life  and a more normal schedule. All this rationalization, though, failed to convince my inner voice, who kept on telling me I was a fool. There were still so many creations and ideas and experimentation inside of me that I was throwing away for a fatter paycheck, for doing what was practical and “right”.

Like many children raised in middle class families around the world, I was led to believe that hard work hard and practical choices are the only way to get ahead in life. If I always rebelled and took risks over the course of my life that my parents never would have, there was always a modicum of cushioning, some sort of net that would have caught me had I miserably failed. After all, when I started cooking, I was married to someone who could afford to support a wife earning $10 an hour – I didn’t exactly starve for my art. What I was worried about, though, at three in the morning, was my ability to find another creative outlet that would indulge the “not so practical” side of me. Enter Marco Pierre White.

When food is your daily focus, it can become hard to step back and not think of it in terms of what other ingredients one can use, how to impress, how to dress it up. After all, a sole might be so perfect in itself to need nothing else if not a splash of lemon and a few drops of olive oil (I am paraphrasing Mr White). Without having to balance a menu, I am free to experiment and cook for my own sake and apply everything I learnt along the way to looking at food in a different, more liberating way. When was the last time I used my kitchen anyway? Cereal and poached eggs don’t count. So, my plan this week is to build an Alabama 6 layer cake and bake some Guinness Gingerbread with lemon glaze for a Christmas party I was invited to.  That covers Wednesday and Friday. Tofu in caramel sauce, Vietnamese style, can close the week-end. And I am planning to share it all with you.

Once again, my belief in synchronicity has proven foolproof. I closed the book that  needed to be returned to its rightful owner and promptly fell asleep.

[Via http://claudiagiulia.wordpress.com]

Simple cooking techniques for each head of family

To learn how to read the complete recipe and make a masterpiece, a skill that many aspiring chefs, but few attain. Even if it makes sense, some people are started at the beginning of the recipe and read everything that is not always the case. It 'easy, one ingredient small, but important, who could miss the difference in taste. You really need to spend time going through the entire recipe before starting.

Cooking techniques standardare very important in the fight for the success of your kitchen. Once you're familiar with them, what your chances of success greatly increase. They are also lighter, more food fair. There are some features that need to be aware, this will increase with time, more food to cook.

Roasting is a technique of cooking with fire to high heat and brown the top of the food chain is reached. Some foods can be cooked within thisMethod, but most of them are not usually prepared in this way. If you use a grid that you just think to do is not eat by the heat. Try to leave at least 4 cm between food and heat source.

Steaming is a popular method of cooking vegetables as it allows them to retain most of its healthy nutrients. It 'very easy to use and is made from food preparation a bit' of water until it is completelycooked.

Some people want to cook the vegetables to give them a little 'over flavor. The cook pot specially designed high heat, with maybe add some spices and other ingredients. There are a number of recipes that call for frying can be used.

Their food can be cooked with a stove and a bit 'of water. This is a common method that people use every day to prepare their food to perfection. As with most of these methods,important to follow all the instructions above or below the kitchen, which would deprive you of the pleasure that should be avoided.

If you are a combination of these methods of cooking or just for use at a time when it is very important that you familiarize yourself with the techniques right through much practice. Join us, especially because your oven works, including the ideal temperature for cooking, are the right amount of time with each meal, and your best recipesOnes. Will certainly find favorite foods that you can enjoy the cuisine of every week, but try to mix well. Follow the instructions on each recipe and find success in your efforts in the kitchen. With enough practice, you are an expert cook to enjoy the meal preparation.

[Via http://inchchefknife.wordpress.com]

I LOVE Mason Jars!

Mason Jars

My love of mason jars started  Winter Solstice/Christmas of ‘08 when I decided to save money on gifts by making home made “Gifts in a Jar”. I bought a case of wide mouth quart jars, and filled them with cookie and quick bread mix. It was so much simpler than actually baking gifts, which I would have eaten half of anyway.  So after the holidays I had several jars around and I began to use them in the kitchen. They are the only container I trust to hold liquids without leaking, which is important when you usually travel with a hungry 1 year old.  My mom said I could freeze in mason jars, as long as you leave a few inches at the top for expansion. I’ve frozen several batches of soup in them this winter. I also noticed that most of the jars have measurements on the side, making it pretty easy to mix up a small batch of powdered milk in the morning for cereal. And this past summer I learned to can apple butter and grape jelly.  Sure I still have some plastic containers, mostly saved things like butter tubs, ice cream buckets, but I’ll never buy “Glad Ware” ever again. I’d rather put my money into glass containers, which are safer than plastic, and can be used for so many things.

[Via http://quainthomesteader.wordpress.com]

Christmas goodies

Well, I’m prepped and ready; it’ll be Christmas goodie-making time tomorrow.

On the agenda:

• Three batches of fudge (chocolate walnut, white chocolate pecan, peanut butter)
• Two batches of “hot” chocolate bark (one dark, with chile powder, currants and walnuts, one white, with wasabi, candied ginger and almonds or peanuts, whichever I decide on)
• Toasted chickpeas with wasabi
• Toasted black-eyed peas with paprika and cayenne
• And maybe some cookies.
• And maybe some pralines.

The fudge recipe is my old standby:

• 3 c. sugar
• 3/4 c. butter
• 2/3 c. (5 1/3 fl. oz. can) evaporated milk
• 1 (12 oz.) pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 c. Kraft marshmallow creme
• 1 c. chopped nuts
• 1 tsp. vanilla

• Combine sugar, butter and milk in heavy 2 1/2 quart saucepan. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Continue boiling 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Remove from heat; stir in chocolate pieces until melted. Add marshmallow creme, nuts and vanilla; beat until well blended. Pour into a greased 13 x 9 inch pan. Cool at room temperature; cut into squares. Makes approximately 3 pounds. (Note: I use a 7-oz jar of MM cream per recipe; it’s close enough to two cups for gub’mint work.) For peanut butter fudge, omit the chocolate chips and nuts, and add a cup of crunchy peanut butter.

For the toasted chickpeas, soak a one-pound bag in water overnight; drain and dry on paper towels. Toss with 2 tbsp olive oil and spices of your choice; I’ve used curry powder, I’ve used a mix of cumin and paprika, I’ve used a mix of ginger and garlic and sweet paprika. This time, I think it’s wasabi, mostly because I have some. Spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet and roast at 350 for about 20 minutes, stirring and shaking every five minutes or so.

The black-eyed peas will be a new attempt, but we’ll give it a whirl. The recipe actually called for deep-frying them, but I’m thinking roasting would work better for something that’s going to be packaged as a snack in a gift box. The deep-frying is what creates the signature dish of Capitol Hotel’s bar in Little Rock: see recipe and detailed instructions here: http://newamericanacuisine.stationx.tv/?p=328. These things are just freakin’ addictive. (The Capitol Bar is also the first place I ever had buttery edamame, which is a nice touch for edamame. And they do a fine Reuben.)

[Via http://kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com]

My Little Helper

As a mom, you have “your little helper” – you know that adorable kid that “helps” you in the kitchen, especially during Christmas baking. She’s the one that accidently stirs half of the flour right out of the bowl or drops two eggs on the floor while she’s trying to “do it herself.” You know that helper. The one you take pictures of every year as she “helps” you make the Christmas treats. The pictures looks great in the scrapbook – much better than the kitchen counters did after the treats were done.

Something happened to “my little helper” this year. There was some sort of transformation. She actually became a HELPER! It makes me tear up a little. My sweet little pumpkin has become a fun loving young lady who is now old enough to be truly, well there’s no other word for it, a helper. I can honestly say that she took about an hour off my baking time Tuesday. Seriously, an hour.

We made Holiday Pretzel Treats together. You can find the actual recipe here.

We made an additional variation with Rolos and pecan halves.

Maggie did the hardest part which wasunwrapping all the Hershey kisses and the Rolos. She was great!!! She even lined them all up so they were easy to count and know how many we had. This is the part that saved me the most time.

Then Mags placed the pretzels on the pan (notice it’s lined with parchment paper for easy clean up). She did most of this herself too. I just came behind her and fit a few more on the tray. I like to use the butter snap pretzels because they add a little something to it. A plain pretzel is good too, but I prefer the butter snaps. Of course, they’re more expensive.

The last step before the oven was placing a Rolo or Hershey Kiss on each pretzel. Another time consuming task where Maggie was a huge help. She was getting a little tired by this point so I made it a race to see which one of us could do a row the fastest. We were done in no time.

Then they went into a 250 oven for about five minutes – just enough to get the candies melted. The final part has to be done QUICK!!  Place an M&M on the Hershey Kiss and push down. Place a pecan half on the Rolo and push down. We had Maggie get on a stool for this part so she wouldn’t burn her hand on the pan by leaning on it. We also called in Daddy to help us get the M&Ms on fast enough. The Hershey Kisses don’t stay melty as long as the Rolos.

Finally, we put the tray in the fridge and let them cool for awhile. The next morning I put them in a cute holiday box lined with waxed paper and took them to the office. They were a hit!

While I’m glad my co-workers and friends enjoyed eating these little treats, it really was the making them that was special. I know I’ll remember that time forever. My little baby is growing up and becoming more and more independent. She’s becoming more a little person. And now I actually have a helper during the Great Christmas Bake!

Oh! I almsot forgot! Maggie helped clean up too! She threw away all those little annoying wrappers and made sure to get every last one. Amazing!!!

[Via http://houseofhills.wordpress.com]

Bailey's Irish Creme

You are REALLY in for a treat (according to the comments on the home site of this recipe)!! Home-Made Original Irish Cream! I can’t WAIT to make it (come ON PAYDAY!!)

Original Irish Cream

1 Cup Half & Half

1 Can sweetened condensed milk

1 1/4 Cup Irish Whisky

1 Tsp Instant Coffee Granules (or Kahlua)

2 Tbsp Chocolate Syrup (Hershey’s is the only way to go)

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1/4 Tsp Almond Extract or Coconut Extract

Combine all in a blender and blend on HIGH for about 30 seconds. Store in a tightly sealed container in a fridge. Shake well before serving. Supposedly, this stuff gets better the second day.

[Via http://armedbear.wordpress.com]

Guess what.

New blog (da, stiu, de parca nu mai aveam vreo zece). Insa asta se arata mai promitator din moment ce va fi simply delicious. Yup. Cooking blog \:D/

Din start va avea mai multe postari decat asta (pentru ca am deja multe poze si retete de mancare, nu ca o sa scriu eu frecvent or smth). Si va contine tot ce fac eu si tatiana de mancare, de la chocolate chip cookies la cozonaci si orice e plin de zahar&co (da, zaharul merge la fripturi.trust me.)

So: droolers, cooks and um…eaters(?)…this way.

[Via http://tartal.wordpress.com]

"Just This Once"

I recently made a speech with this name and it got such a rowsing response, I thought I’d share it with you.  Now, realize this is the original written speech.  Any good orator goes “off book” once they memorize it and goes with the flow, but the jist of it is here.  Let me know what you think!

And it’s videoed!  So I’ll never forget what the heck I said!!

Here it is:

When it comes to your eating habits, how many times have you heard yourself say “Oh…just this once!?”

Let’s say its someone’s birthday at work, so “ just this once” you’re going to have a piece of cake to help celebrate.  We love when it’s someone’s birthday at the office.  That means a break from work AND we get to have cake!  “Just this once I’ll have a piece.”  Suppose you have about 30 people in your office.  Now, an average piece of sheet cake is 4” by 4”.  Doesn’t seem so bad, right?  Well, in a year, you’ll have 30 of them.  That’s 120” or 10 FEET of sheet cake!! I’m 5′5″ tall, that’s almost twice my height!!  That’s a lot of cake! And that’s not even including when you have the ‘good stuff’  for friends and family….or you!

Speaking of family, do you have kids?    Your son just won his soccer game and you’re going to celebrate by having Burger King.  Just this once you’ll get French fries…or even help your son finish his (who are we kidding?  He’s 10.  You REALLY think he’s going to share his fries with his Mom?!).  Even if he’s on a halfway decent team and wins half his matches, that’s at least twice a month.  If he plays more than one sport…. Your “Just this once” becomes “Just this twice a week!”

And how often do  you go out to dinner with your spouse, other couples….or ESPECIALLY Girls Night Out!  I know I’m guilty of this.  If we go to an Italian restaurant “just this once” I’m going to have pasta AND if they have good tiramisu, I’m ordering it before I order my appetizer!  Why? Because I’m out with friends at a great restaurant.  Studies have shown that eating out with friends causes us to eat more than when we eat alone, even WITHOUT dessert!

Even when you’re attempting to get into some sort of exercise routine, following through seems like an “exercise” in futility (pun intended) …“Just this once” I’m going to skip my workout because I’ve got a million things to do.

Get what I’m saying?  It’s NEVER just this once.  With this mindset you’ll always give yourself permission to “cheat” when you go to a restaurant or a party with great food. You’ll skip the gym or your power walk because you need to pick up your husband’s dry cleaning or take your kids to the mall.

As women we’re natural caretakers and tend to put everyone else’s needs before our own.  We use up the day concentrating on everything and everyone else, instead of helping ourselves become better, so we’re THEN better able to handle whatever life throws at us.

Ever see that airline pre-takeoff film where the Mom has to put on the mask before helping her child.  She needs to be healthy to help her son. Seems pretty obvious, doesn’t it?  This notion has to be taken a step further and used every day.

Financial experts are always telling you to “Pay yourself first!”  When you do, you earn interest….so you end up with MORE than you started with.  It’s all the same concept.  When you take a percentage of your day just for yourself, you end up happier, more centered and less stressed.  Give yourself permission to take care of you.

Get the idea?  “Just This Once” should be taken out of your vocabulary.

Put in “Just for ME time!”  And it doesn’t have to be a LOT of time; just a little focused time will pay off big dividends.

Take a few minutes in the morning to sit and breathe deeply.  Let yourself plan your day in your head.  Are you going to the gym?  Is there a party at work? You’ll be prepared and won’t sabotage yourself if you know there’s a birthday or special event or game celebration.  If you need something more concrete, take a month-at-a-glance calendar.  Using different colored highlighters, mark down when you have birthday parties, kid’s soccer games, parties, etc.  Pretty soon, it’ll look like a Christmas tree and you’ll realize how much opportunity you have to splurge.

You need to plan when to savor those splurges.  Realize that you can celebrate and eat healthfully at the same time!  If you’re going out, give yourself one thing that evening to splurge on.  If you want Tiramisu, don’t have the pasta.  If you’re going to a Burger King, have a yogurt parfait.  Still fun, but MUCH healthier than those French fries.  You’ll also have much more energy and you’ll feel better when you stop eating all that fat and calories.

Make yourself MOVE every day.  Do SOMETHING physical.  Have fun with it and make it purposeful—and passionate!   Instead of strolling around the block,  pretend you’re in a race walk and see how fast you can do it. (after all…the sooner you start and get going, the sooner you finish!)  Or, bring out that “Inner Child” and skip!  Skipping burns just as many calories as race walking and it’s great for toning your lower body.  AND…it’s really fun.  If you’re grocery shopping, pretend you’re in the Grocery Olympics and lift those packages without getting any help from your family. Do a walking lunge with your packages all the way to the kitchen. You’ll burn more calories even walking back and forth from the car!

You don’t have to go to the gym to get in better shape.  Studies have shown that people who keep moving throughout the day actually burn more calories than those people who go crazy at the gym for an hour and then plop on the couch or at a desk the rest of the day!

Bottom line is this.  The words “Just This Once” don’t work if you want to keep extra weight off.  Allow some ‘Just for ME Time’ to center yourself and plan for your day and make sure you’re moving in some way throughout your daily chores and events.

So, just this once, take my advice…it will give you more energy, more productivity and much less stress in your life.

That’s my story and I”m stickin’ to it!

Talk to you later,

Rona

[Via http://ronalewis.wordpress.com]

Lammeeya @ 1 Utama

Friday

fRiDaY- Happy Birthday to the Sultan of Selangor..

Which means.. public holiday! But as today is a friday, i have no classes on Friday, so it doesn’t make a difference for me. =.=

Anyways, i ran in the morning.. preworkout fuel was coffee + a few Wheat Thins. 

Dear came after my workout.. And we had brekkie together!

I cooked while he was on the way.. Salmon sausages (no meat Friday) and 2 attempted bulls-eye egg, of which only one success. And two pieces of Gardenia bread, toasted with Ballantyne butter-which smelled oh so good!

MY brekkie was simple since lunch was in like 2 hours!

Ok. this WAS supposed to be breakfast until i looked into my ABC melrose jar, and there was barely scraps left, so i thought-perfect for oats in a jar! So, i used Skippy Natural PB instead.

No milk-No coffeE!

Dear went to sleep.

We were headed for lunch with Akak Jean and Akak Carol at Lammeeya @ 1u.

What could Lammeeya be possibly famous for? Why Lam mee of course!

Akak Jean, Carol and Grampa each had a bowl. I tried some. they gave ALOT of noodles. it looked quite “jelak”. i didn’t really like the meatball (they weren’t in the shape of balls though) cos it tasted funny. The gravy was  quite good.

I had 2 dumplings and two meatballs (RM4.80)

Ok..verdict:

The dumblings dough was too doughy!! yuck.. too thick! No go!

Meatballs were alright-both shape and taste! haha.

We also ordered “foo chook”

This seriously smelled like fries to me. only prob with this was that the stuffing was too much. but i think it’s a personal taste cos i like my fu chuok without stuffing if possible.

Gramma had mee rebus, but no pic.

Overall.. the food was ok. i guess i’m not a lam mee fan. but i really disliked the dumplings. price wasn’t cheap too. came up to about RM60 plus..

Food: 6.5/10 | Price: 6.5/10 | Ambience: 7/10 | Service: 6.5/10

Lammeeya: LG 333A, One-Utama-New Wing, next to Bread Story. (03-77274877)

We walked about 1 Utama, and Akak Jean found 2 great deals for two shirts for Grandma.

We went back after buying some stuff at Cold Storage..

Napped with dear for a bit..

Dinner was cooked at home. Dear had to go for OT.

This was the first time in a long time since i cooked real food. lol

The main ingredients..

I made salmon with tomato sauce..

1. Cooked some onion and garlic
2. Tossed in the canned salmon fillets.. broke it down to flakes.
3. Tossed in some mixed vege (the corn, carrot and peas)
4. Added the canned tomatoes and about 3 tablespoons of tomato puree.
5. Some dried parsley, salt, pepper.. Sugar cos it was somehow quite sour..
6. Voila!

We ate straight from the pan to reduce washing of dishes. Dear liked it! And it’s not expensive to make! PLUS HEALTHY!

Tesco light choices Lentil and vegetable soup: was ok.. but slightly bland. i still prefer the Tuscan bean soup.

Sent dear off to work.. and did some studying/watching tv/studying..

Waited for him to come back. he was supposed to get back early, but he had last minute work from his boss. which really sucked.

We got to sleep at 3am!!

[Via http://peachesandcupcakes.wordpress.com]

Honoring Tradition

The weather outside is Southern California’s version of frightful today (rainy), and that is absolutely perfect!  While it’s damp and drizzly out there, inside my home it’s going to be warm and sunny!

Why?

Today I honor tradition and open Santa’s Bakery for 2009.

Every year my Mom baked the most tasty delicacies ever, a treat simply referred to as “Christmas Cookies”.  The recipe has been passed down through at least 4 generations of my father’s family, this baker being the 4th generation, and it’s just not Christmas if these cookies aren’t tickling our tastebuds.

For me the tradition of these cookies goes beyond their taste – a lot of the tradition is in making them.  The dough needs to be made stiff enough that it rolls out nearly paper thin yet moist enough that it can withstand the constant addition of more flecks of flour.  Once the right consistency is achieved, the true “fun” begins.

Flour the counter and the rolling pin; roll out the dough to a 6-8″ circle then flip over and continue rolling out to needed depth; dip cookie cutter edge in flour then press into dough 12 or 18 times, placing shapes as close together as possible; pull up extra dough from around the shapes; using a metal spatula that has also been run through flour, carefully place the shapes on a foil covered cookie sheet; spread egg on top of the shapes with a pastry brush; decorate with colored sugar and/or colored balls then bake for 8 minutes (switching trays at the 4 minute mark to avoid burnt bottoms in the lower cookie tray).

Repeat dozens and dozens (and dozens) of times! 

Throughout this day I will have many flashbacks of this baking tradition as it happened during my childhood years.  There are those that are already running through my head – my Dad sitting at the kitchen table egging and decorating the cookies (a job we kids shared once we were old enough); my Mom wiping her forehead with the back of her floured hand; the clickety-clack of the cookie cutters as Mom dipped them in flour before using them in the dough; seeing my Mom’s fingers as they trace the outline of the cookie cutter, ensuring a clean cut in the dough, and of course, we kids stealing bits of raw anise-flavored dough to nibble on, long before it was unhealthy to eat anything with raw eggs.  Then there will be those flashbacks that surprise me, those memories that are buried so deep yet close enough to the surface to spring forth once triggered…

Last year I checked with my siblings and my father and asked their permission to inherit Mom’s cookie cutter collection as well as her aluminum cookie press, offering to share any cookie cutters with my siblings that had special meaning to them.  There was not a single objection to my bringing these items to CA, and I was thrilled.  Though I had some of my own cookie cutters, the Christmas Cookies are not the same for me if they’re not made with the cutters that have been used for as long as I can remember.  And these cutters absolutely need to be stored in that same red cardboard box that my Mom stored them in…the box that when stumbled upon in July would send my tastebuds into overdrive.  Fitting the dozens of different size, shape and depth cutters back into this box so the lid will close has always required as much patience and stamina as making the cookies themselves…

For me this tradition is not yet complete as I am missing three key components, all of which I will adopt at some point in the future.  The first is the very large frosted pink bowl that my Mom used to make the dough.  This bowl was only used once a year so when it was on the counter I knew what was coming next.  The second is the red handled serated cutter my Mom used to make the scraps.  When the dough will no longer roll out correctly or when exhaustion has set in, whichever comes first, the dough is rolled out for a final time and this cutter is used to make straight horizontal and vertical wavy lines.  Each square is a cookie and afforded all the decorating like the shaped counterparts.  The third is the large glass Mr. Peanut jar and lid that sits on top of the hutch at my parents’ house.  Years and years ago it contained peanuts and sat on a store shelf in a store my Dad’s parents ran, but throughout my life, it sat on the top shelf of the hutch and was home to Christmas Cookies.

By the time Santa’s Bakery closes today I will have at least 30-40 dozen Christmas Cookies!!  Many will be given as gifts but hopefully there will be lots for me to enjoy.  I promise that I will follow tradition and not eat any shaped cookies until Christmas day.  I will however enjoy the scraps between now and then.  As for the balance of the cookies that I keep?  They are still as yummy on day 360 as they are on day 1, however I know myself very well and there’s not even the slighest possibility that any cookie I make today will still be hanging around when day 50 arrives never mind day 360!

After an evening of well-deserved lounging on the sofa, enjoying wine and a dinner that is made for me (either a Subway sub or a pizza), tomorrow will herald the reopening of Santa’s Bakery, though for just a few hours, not an entire day.

Tomorrow I will bake the pressed cookies.  These are vanilla cookies that are run through a cookie press – not a plastic press like currently available, but my Mom’s alumimun press with real metal shape pieces!

Three batches of the cookie dough are made – one has red food coloring added, the second has green added and the third is colorless.  All three doughs are put into the press, each taking up a vertical 1/3 of space so when the handle is turned and the cookies come out, they are tri-colored!

There are easy shapes and there are tough shapes.  The wreath, tree and clover are the most difficult as invariably a piece of dough refuses to fall off the press and onto the cookie sheet.  The heart and the flower are the easiest…all others fall somewhere in the middle.

Tomorrow I will share photos, cookie totals and baking tales with you.  Unfortunately WordPress does not offer a “scratch-n-sniff” option so you won’t be able to smell all these goodies     But maybe that’s not a bad thing ‘cuz if you smelled them you’d want to eat them!

Enjoy your Saturday everyone!!  I’ll be back when the bakery is closed!

[Via http://ordinarybutinteresting.wordpress.com]

Cooking up a storm

It’s been rather a gourmet week this week. Here are some of the tasty things we made.

Almond bread with lots of orange and lemon zest

Buttermilk fried chicken (YUM!) with Christmas salad and Moroccan carrot salad

and earthquake biscuits (dense chocolate biscuits rolled in icing sugar).

Just about all these recipes are from delicious. magazine. If you like cooking, I can’t recommend anything better than a subscription.

[Via http://lacepetticoat.wordpress.com]

Twitter Launches Re-tweet (Reflection)

 

I read the news about the beta launch of retweet and the excitement around improvements recently made at several social media websites. I am probably one of the millions lucky to be part of something something of retweet that other people don’t get! That is what my twitter told me and I don’t even know what it is but anyway it is here and now my important tweets can be sent around to everyone over and over. I checked and I have 3000 tweets so far which is a few more than most people but they include every blog post I make also. That is the real use for twitter in my view. It serves as a good platform for broadcasting what one is broadcasting. That can be product or service marketing or personal branding. Twitter is really an experiment for me and if it was really working well I would have put some time into using it regularly and building the thing up. I seriously doubt if it will do more than broadcast effectively to a select target market. Facebook still does a better job and Linkedin was never designed to be a broadcast platform. I think twitter is evolving into something beyond twitter that may not be within the objectives of the original twitter. The needs of the market have to be served and the broadcast needs are being met but personal conversation is not the real business of twitter. It continues to upgrade itself not only in technical sense but also in business model. If that goes well, twitter should someday be a real platform for personal conversation or somebody else will find an angle, based on twitter’s efforts and failures, and create a new platform that does that job. Personally, what I really care about is that my user name is being held hostage by someone who has not used twitter since 2006 and they haven’t fixed it since my complaint of three weeks ago. Customer service may do twitter a bunch of good.

*This post belongs to this week’s edition of Wine by Cush Magazine blog and published early in World of Cush also.

[Via http://worldofcush.wordpress.com]

The traveler returneth

But I think the traveler forgot how to cook because tonight was certainly forgettable, and I am just not inspired of late.

Been on the road since early Saturday, got back relatively late last night. I did have a decent meal or two while I was gone, including buffalo meat loaf at Ted’s Montana Grill, which was acceptable comfort food for a chain.

Let’s see. There was sweet potato ravioli in a cream sauce at the hotel in Atlanta. I’d give it 2.5 stars. Good, and I’d order it again, but it missed being wonderful. Breakfast the next morning at the hotel was OK. I’ve had better. In between, there was food at the Georgia Dome during the game — I will admit to being quite impressed with the sweet chili-garlic wings. That was some good stuff. And I had a hefty little pile of bones next to my seat to prove it.

Oh. Alabama won. Not that I particularly cared.

Next day….h’mmm….well, there was a catfish sandwich with sweet potato fries at the beer joint where we ate lunch in Cartersville, GA.Damn good sweet potato fries, I might add. The catfish sandwich was OK. That night…what did we have? Oh. I had a bowl of she-crab soup at Larkin’s in Greenville, SC, and it was excellent.

Next day in Greenville, it was a black and blue salad — blackened tuna, blue cheese, greens. Too much blue cheese. Tuna was good, though. And that night was the best meal of the trip, an absolutely delectable pork chop, with a dry rub, cooked just medium, juicy, tender, wonderful. With a black-eyed pea and smoked sausage cassoulet. Wonderful smoky, tomato-ey flavor wrapped around the earthiness of those blackeyed peas — have I told you I love a black-eyed pea? I love a black-eyed pea. And they were in a cute little iron skillet, with a dusting of toasted parmesan breadcrumbs broiled on top.

I was a happy woman, if miserably full.

Tonight was adequate to stand between us and starvation, if not much more. I did chicken in tomatos with Indian spices, finished with yogurt. I guess I had a light enough hand with the spices that I went too light. Or something. Anyway, it was OK, but that was about it.

Tomorrow night I have to cook for the pot-luck staff Christmas party on Friday evening. My contributions are cranberry salad, potato salad, and dates stuffed with almonds and wrapped in bacon. I should start tonight, but I’m too damn tired.

You and y’mama ‘n ‘em can come help me stuff dates (shut UP!) tomorrow night if you want.

[Via http://kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com]

Guest Post: Bulgur (or Cracked Wheat) with Chickpeas

Please give a warm welcome to our very first guest blogger, our lovely sister-in-law Adele!

I LOVE CHICKPEAS. There. I said it.

I’m a sucker for anything with chickpeas in them – salads, hummus, curry – whatever it is, I’ll eat it. Chickpeas, or Garbanzo Beans, are super delicious, super filling, super healthy, and super cute! (Seriously – have you ever looked at one? It looks like a baby butt!) If you ever need a protein in your meal – a handful of chickpeas is generally the way I go. They are versatile like you wouldn’t believe and couldn’t be easier to store. (In the past, I’ve bought dried chickpeas, soaked them overnight, boiled them, yadda yadda yadda. The canned is way easier. Just make sure to rinse them off thoroughly first. Here’s what Mark Bittman has to say on the subject.)

Thanks to my mom, I’m a big believer in home-cooked meals, but it’s not always so easy when you’ve got a list a to-do list that’s 3 miles long. This meal – active time – 10 minutes. Total time – 40 minutes – start to finish. Period. Plus, the ingredients are things I almost always have on hand – onions, garlic, and (you guessed it!) chickpeas.

WAIT – what in the world is Bulgur – you say?

Bulgur, or burghol in Arabic, is made of whole wheat kernels that are steamed, dried, and then crushed. Not only does this process give it a delicious nutty flavor, it also means that these bad boys need much less time to cook than regular cracked wheat. In this recipe, you can use cracked wheat instead of bulgur, however you will need to cook it longer. (For a good article explaining the difference between the two, see this link).

If you are a fan of Middle Eastern cooking, chances are you’ve already tried bulgur. It is the main ingredient in taboule, kibbe (the shell is made of it), and bazerghan to name a few. Bulgur is relatively cheap, easily stored, and can be used in place of rice or quinoa. It can be purchased from any Middle Eastern market in a variety sizes – from whole and halved to finely ground. This recipe uses halved kernels.

Phew. That was the hard part. Now here’s the recipe, adapted from “Aromas of Aleppo,” by Poopa Dweck.

Bulgur (or Cracked Wheat) with Chickpeas

*recipe can be made either Dairy or Pareve (non-dairy)*

¡muy importante! make sure to wash your bulgur before using! rinse it til the water runs clear!

You’ll need:

• 1 large onion, chopped
• lots of garlic (I used about 8 cloves), chopped
• vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups bulgur (or cracked wheat) – RINSED
• 2 cups water
• 1 can chickpeas (15.5 oz)
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 3 tbsp butter (or for a pareve version: 3 tbsp butter substitute, e.g. earth balance, OR 2 more tbsp of vegetable oil)

1. In a medium saucepan, heat up the vegetable oil and saute the onions until translucent. Add the garlic and continue sauteing for another few minutes, or until everything is soft and smelling delicious. Add the bulgur (DID YOU RINSE IT FIRST??) and cook for a few minutes over low heat until the bulgur is well coated. Add the water, salt, and chickpeas (yay, chickpeas!). Bring the whole pot to a boil over high heat, then cover and simmer for about 25 minutes.
2. At the 25 minute mark, take off your pot cover, toss in your butter/butter substitute/vegetable oil, and cover it back up. Let it finish simmering another 5 minutes, remove it from the heat, and serve!

Easy, huh? Easy and delicious.

PS – This is also delicious when eaten with Lebneh – aka plain yogurt with dried mint and cucumbers. Yummm.

[Via http://thekosherfoodies.com]

Seafood yum yum

1rg onion

2 celery stalks

2 carrots

1 handfull of snow peas

fry up in  a little oil

then add 1 litre of cold water  or vegitable  stock

boil for 1 hour

makeing your own quantaties

prawns. mussles and squid rings add all to the pot and simmer for a further 20 minutes ….

searve in large bowl with crusty bread

[Via http://catscooking.wordpress.com]