A Better Brekky for the New Year...

Today, I squeezed orange juice for my kids. They ate it with peanut butter toast. Henry had a fried egg with cholula hot sauce on it and more toast to sop up the runny yolks. Ezra had a side of plain yogurt with a drizzling of maple syrup. For me, it was water, coffee, egg with hot sauce and toast.  I always start my day with a a big glass of about 20 ounces of water.
Often we have cold cereal. Or oatmeal. Though Ezra has yogurt almost every day. He is not a big breakfast eater.




Get the pdf for this nifty breakfast flow chart here.

As well as thinking about breakfast, I have been thinking a bit about getting my own place. In a few months I will have hopefully saved up enough for a bitty apt. My dream apt. is half of an old house, in the country, with woods and fields for the boys to romp in. We would be allowed a dog or a cat. We would be allowed chickens. Rent would be less than $900. No carpets. Two floors. Lots of southern exposure. It is a bit of a dream but I think it is possible.

In the meantime, I think about sofas. I am actually quite bipolar when it comes to sofa preference.

If I had a zillion dollars. I would be purchasing a tufted or otherwise beautiful anthropologie sofa in the next year...



But it is more likely to be Raymour and Flanagan or IKEA for me...

Christmas Cookies/Cookys- Read this if you think you could use a good case of the guffaws

My dad wrote this in an email recently. I believe it was his version of a holiday greeting card. It cracked me up. P.S Pops, I am making you some molasses cookies over break. xoxo 


The fact of the matter is, that I am indifferent to the color or
shapes of cookies, even Christmas cookies. Round, square, in the shape
of a fat man or reindeer, blue green, red with sprinkles; it's all the
same to me--so long as they taste good.  So when Debi was making a
batch of Christmas cookies I was suddenly overcome by the nostalgia of
Mom's molasses cookies.  Big ones, soft and cakey, that you eat with a
cauldron of cold, whole milk.  That you can dunk, or to avoid the
ineveitable decomposition of the cookie when it is saturated, and the
disconcerting particulate suspension in the milk, which no one is
particularly fond of, you can do what I do.  Disgustingly, take a
large bite of the cooky and then fill any void spaces left over in
your mouth with milk.  To do this right you need a bib, but I never
wear one.

Well there was no recipe for molasses cookies in the family cookbook
that we put together so I went on the internet.  Some of the recipes
there used a lot of spices such as cloves, ginger, cinnamon and
allspice, but I did not remember mom's cookies being particularly
spicy, I just remembered the taste of the molasses.  So I decreased
the amounts of spices and eliminated cloves.  Some of the recipes
called for a large proportion of refined sugar as compared to the
molasses, but as I indicated before, what I remembered from Mom's
cookies was the flavor of the molasses, so I upped the proportion of
black strap molasses and pretty much eliminated the refined sugar.  I
synthesized several recipes for the egg, milk and flour components,
and because the memory of molasses cookies was so strong I decided to
double the recipe.

Then it came to mixing the ingredients together, and the truth is, I
probably could have followed the directions a little better with
regard to the sequence of adding ingredients, etc.  Looking back, it
is clear to me now that mixing half a cubic yard of sakrete in a
wheelbarrow would have taken about the same amount of effort, and
would have yielded similar results.  This is where I began to get some
premonitions of the eventual outcome.

Debi remarked that she had not seen molasses cooky dough that stiff,
and she questioned the nature of the copious white nodules in the
batter.  I explained that they were organic, and could be eaten.

The only thing about cookies, other than taste, that I am not
indifferent too is size, so I decided to make them big.  I retreived a
wide mouth glass from the cup board and used that to cut out the
cookies from the rolled-out dough.  Interestingly, as stiff as the
mixed dough was, I was able to use a standard rolling pin to roll it
out and did not have to trouble myself with renting some sort of a
roller from Uhall.

Then I baked them, I used the maximum temperature and the maximum time
from the assorted recipes on the internet for the first batch, and in
successive batches doubled the time, then added to that.  I finally
resorted to finishing them off using the convection utility on the
oven which converts it to sort of a blast furnace.

I was disappointed, the cookies are lousy.  They have the specific
gravity of a lead sinker, but slightly better texture.  On the upside
they do not dissolve when you dunk them milk, in fact, I am not sure
they would dissolve in nitric acid.  They are round and about the size
of a clay pigeon.  They could be used as such, except I doubt if they
would break apart unless they were hit dead center with a deer slug.

I jotted down the recipe that I was propounding from my imagination
and the internet sources, I am considering approaching Corning glass
with it, I think that many of the ceramic properties of the cookies
have industrial or military applications.

Then I thought of the other thing.  When I think of cookies, really
contemplate them, I come to realize that they are the villians of the
cullinary world.  What do cookies contribute to nutrition---nothing.
In fact too much sugar has been linked to all sorts of health
problems.  The other thing about cookies is that they are addictive,
they are like rabbits, one cooky begets another, and another, and
another, etc.  For example, starting with the resolve to just eat one,
the next thing that you know is that you have gone through a quart of
milk and a couple of sleeves of Oreo's.

Not with these cookies, beginning with the first bite, there is in
fact a diminishing desire to take another bite.  Finish the first
cookie (some alzheimers patients and unusually desparate people would
do that) and the the idea of having another cooky, any cooky is
repugnant.  Better yet the after taste remains with you for the rest
of the day.

If you visit us over the holidays you can have as many as you want.

granola bars

Lately I have been getting into the habit of spending a larger portion of my weekends baking or preparing nytimes  no knead dough for baking. For the last two weekends I try to get most of my reading for the week done by early afternoons Sunday and spend the rest of the day being domestic. Last week it was all about baking biscuits, poaching chicken,  preparing bread dough, and making a labor intensive beef stew. This weekend I made the granola bars my friend and neighbor has been making and enjoying. She got the recipe from smitten kitchen  (a fabulous cooking blog).
Her thick chewy granola bars are amazing. The recipe is so flexible, which means you can probably make them right now.

This is the perfect thing to have around two growing boys who are always hungry and for whom the "grab a piece of fruit" answer only works so many times.

Here is the recipe... Though it is hard to read os you should probably go straight to Smitten kitchen...


1 2/3 cups quick rolled oats (if gluten-free, be sure to use gluten-free oats)
1/2 to 3/4 cup granulated sugar (use more for a sweetness akin to most purchased bars; use less for a mildly sweet bar)
1/3 cup oat flour (or 1/3 cup oats, processed till finely ground in a food processor or blender)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 to 3 cups dried fruits and nuts (total of 10 to 15 ounces)*
1/3 cup peanut butter or another nut butter (I used almond butter) (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional, namely because I was not convinced that the flavor came through)
6 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup honey, maple syrup or corn syrup
2 tablespoons light corn syrup (see Note above)
1 tablespoon water
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8″ x 8″ x 2″ pan in one direction with parchment paper, allowing it to go up the opposing sides. Lightly grease the parchment paper and the exposed pan, or coat with a non-stick spray.
Stir together all the dry ingredients, including the fruit and nuts. In a separate bowl, whisk together the vanilla, melted butter or oil, liquid sweeteners and water. Toss the wet ingredients with the dry (and peanut butter, if you’re using it) until the mixture is evenly crumbly. Spread in the prepared pan, pressing them in firmly to ensure they are molded to the shape of the pan. (A piece of plastic wrap can help with this, as you press down on the back of it.)
Bake the bars for 30 to 40 minutes, until they’re brown around the edges — don’t be afraid to get a little color on the tops too. They’ll still seem soft and almost underbaked when you press into the center of the pan but do not worry, they’ll set completely once completely cool.
Cool the bars in their pan completely on a cooling rack. (Alternately, after about 20 minutes you can use your parchment “sling” to lift and remove the bars, and place them in their paper on the rack to cool the rest of the way. This can speed the process up.)
Once cool, a serrated knife (or bench knife) to cut the bars into squares. [Updating to note, as many had crumbling issues:] If bars seem crumbly, chill the pan of them further in the fridge for 30 minutes which will fully set the “glue”, then cut them cold. To store, wrap the bars individually in plastic or stack them in an airtight container. In humid weather, it’s best to store bars in the refrigerator. They also freeze well.


A few notes...I used peanut butter and butter. I had just run out of honey so I used a combo of molasses, agave syrup and granulated sugar (all in all , less sweetener than she used)
I used walnuts, dark and light raisins, unsweetened coconut and a small handful of dark chocolate chips. 
I added a bit of wheat germ. I barely measured anything, mostly eyeballing it all and they turned out wonderfully. Delicious and holding together very well. 









  Some girlfriends and I hung out last night. we nibbled on appetizers, slurped soup from freshside, drank vino and played the old 1970s board game CAREERS. By the end, I had gone on and expedition to the moon, found uranium, acted in Hollywood, spent a year at sea and been elected to the Supreme Court.  And I still lost. But it was fun.

maiden voyage of the new ice cream maker...and another attempt at a melancholy song

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 cups heavy cream, well chilled

1-2 tsp peppermint extract

dark chocolate, chopped

As I poured the above (except for chocolate) ingredients (after they were blended and the sugar was dissolved) into my spanking new ice cream maker (my thighs thank you mom and dad), I was thinking- my kids don't even have to know I made this, they are at school right now. This was thought with my mouth full of chocolate. Then I realized how ridiculous I was being. I can save them a little of it. Sheesh.

I plan to make grapefruit sorbet. I promise. But the cookies are gone and well, I have all this high fat dairy in my frigo.

Below is For Maggie and Aunt Denise- Because you requested another song. I haven't gotten much better. Too busy reading and stuffing my face. Also, I am sick of my repertoire. I found the chords for this song today, which partially explains that mistake towards the end. It makes me think of those desperately sad commercials for aspca. I need to improve my strumming. But it is so hard.

REAL PICKLES, local business shout out...

I love pickles, especially fermented pickles. I love fermented veggies in general. At our CSA farm down the road , the fridge in the pick-up barn is packed with local goodies, dressings, popsicles, pork, eggs, milk, etc. I usually don't purchase any because they are all pretty pricey but once in a while I splurge. It's worth it, supporting local business and healthy eating and all. A few weeks ago I bought a jar of fermented, gingered carrots and some truly delicious kombucha (which is saying a lot for me, sometimes I like the stuff but sometimes those cultures taste like fresh vomit). I will save the kombucha gushing for another post. The fermented carrots are delish. I eat them by the spoonful daily (one spoonful from the jar as a snack). And I just ate a bowlful with a generous dousing of sriracha on top. Thanks local business, REAL PICKLES! They support many local organic farms in Massachusetts and New York.

Jell-o Mold competition?

GSS Jell-O Mold Competition
Saturday, June 26 2010 from 6-10pm
166 7th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215
(Between 2nd and 3rd Avenues)

I will say no more.

dinner tonight- scallion crepes with dipping sauce and a huuge salad

Ez and I went to my friend Lissa's yesterday to have lunch and play and it was such fun. Lissa is a fabulous cook, she catered with Martha Stewart in her youth and she once took a class in Paris at the Cordon Bleu. She and I dream of opening up a little stand at the new North Amherst farmer's Market one day. We had a great day, playing in the garden, talking about herbs (I am using a new herb book to teach myself a little bit). I even made her a poutice with some plantain for her poison ivy. For lunch, we had these fabulous scallion crepes with a scrumptious dipping sauce. These are much better than my scallion pancakes. The recipe is here.

We just picked up our first Simple Gifts Farm CSA share today. Garlic scapes, chard, spinach, salad, turnips, bok choy....yum

unfortunately blogger is acting up and I can't seem to download my own photos. I have some great ones from our visit yesterday....

sushi-lo fi

vegetables and egg

sweet potato and scallion

roll it

I don't know what this thing is called but you roll it with this

sorta cute

Youtube has gobs of videos if you want explicit instructions...

I recently realized I hadn't made sushi in awhile and wondered why the heck not, other than the fact that Ezra limits his intake to one or 2 rolls, and then wants something else. The rest of us will gladly eat it until our bellies are full. One of my favorite rolls to make was the "Buddha" roll, inspired by Noho's Osaka, which has a filling of cuke, sweet potato and honey roasted peanuts. TO DIE FOR. Yesterday I made some simple rolls, avocado, cuke, carrot and scallion. They were so much fun to put together and Henry loved eating them. I also added a little bit of Kimchi-Furekake rice seasoning (a shaker of dried veggies, salmon and sea salt), which Henry loved.

Today I thought I would document my sushi-making. The three boys are on a bike ride adventure so the kitchen is all mine.

The fillings- carrots, cucumber, avocado, thin egg "pancake", roasted sweet potato, red bell pepper, scallions, all sliced very thin and kept as long as possible.

I used two and a half cups of sushi rice and made 7-8 "logs" of sushi...

Of course you need the toasted nori sheets that you can find at your local Asian spmkt (ours is called "Mom's" isn't that sweet?)

We like to dip ours in so sauce, with a bit of wasabi and pickled ginger on top.

I basically mixed and matched the fillings...

Henry later told me that he likes restaurant sushi better. Big surprise there. I do too, partly because I love spicy tuna and crispy scallop and prefer to do vegetarian sushi at home. But this is cheaper and still yummy,

In case you were wondering, I was listening to Rihanna's "Photographs" feat. Will. i. am during the sushi-making. After a long break from that album, I revisited it and am a bit addicted to that song. So I was sort of dancing around while I was rolling the sushi, which I am sure makes it taste better, and makes my neighbors giggle and/or wonder about my sanity.

Han's Coconut Banana Bread Pudding or The Yummiest Way to Eat yourself into Morbid Obesity Oblivion

A birthday ring I love, from Matty, thanks Laura for pointing him in the right direction...

The picture does not do it justice

My friend Han is from Vietnam and she has quite a life story, although I don't know much of it. What I do know is that she is a fierce cook. And that whole French influence on Vietnamese cooking is evident even in the snacks she brings for her son's preschool. One memorable snack involved tender, flaky and round, apple-shaped pastries (complete with clove "stems") filled with the most delectable homemade applesauce, delicately spiced and thickened with agar agar. Delicious.

For my birthday, Han made me the most scrumptious bread pudding. Perfectly sweet, eggy, soft carb-rich pudding, redolent with coconut milk, coconut shavings and bananas. Han is so meticulous, the bananas could not have been sliced any thiner and she fanned them out on the surface of the pudding beautifully.

I have asked her for the recipe and am hoping to get it but I think I may just have to get a lesson...

FOOD IS LOVE

And then yesterday as I was sitting attempting to read a novel while my boys exercised their soccer obsession, the two Ahmeds, Rasha and my friend and neighbor Ece and I all spoke about food. Not all at once, but over the course of a couple hours. Ahmed and Ahmed and Rasha are kids and they just happen to very frequently be hanging around my stoop. And I love talking to them about what they like to eat, especially since what they eat is so different from what I eat. Although I try to point out similarities it's tricky because I have found that my Palestinian friends pronunciations of Middle Eastern dishes is much closer to the Lebanese pronunciation

(Lebanese cuisine being the source of much of my experience with Middle Eastern food thanks to Matty's family) than my Egyptian friends pronunciations, which makes sense. And then my neighbor Ece, who hails from Turkey was eating a sandwich that looked interesting, so as I was congratulating her for getting into the Bilingual/ Multicultural Ed. program, (I helped her edit her essay, which was very interesting) I asked her about Turkish food. She and her husband are working on a documentary of sorts about Turkish food and memories...Oh, and her sandwich was filled with feta, parsley and walnuts.

I realized for the hundredth time last night, how much I love talking and learning about food. And I thought to myself that I would love to document this. How wonderful it would be to write a book about the families living here and how/what they eat. How would I do it? What would it be like? Interviews, photographs recipes, potlucks, memories, maps... Any ideas?

Post Scrip- This post, after a bit of espresso, has brought to mind two things...1. How did Han, who doesn't know me that terribly well (mostly due to language difficulties), know that bread pudding would be a perfect gift for me...Am I that transparent, yes, of course I am.

And 2. I am reminded of one of the elderly Italian men who followed me around Florence one day and finally caught up with me to tell me that he thought I was " Beautiful, not so skinny like most Italian women. YOU LOOK LIKE YOU EAT PASTA." Thanks, OLD Italian man (the young ones were never interested in me. Just my skinny, long haired, stylish and GORGEOUS friend Brooke), just what I needed to hear after gaining 5 pounds in a week and dealing with a major break-up.

pineapple upside down cake

naughty is a latte and cake in the middle of the day

There is little in life more comforting to me than baking and/or eating baked goods. Which is sad and unfortunate, I know. Gardening comes to mind as does painting and reading, snuggling with my kids, campfires, being with friends. But back to baking...There are some obvious reasons to love baking and eating baked goods. On top of the fat, sugar and other sensory factors is the Nana Kitty factor. My mom did not bake constantly. She was busy raising 4 kids of her own and a bunch of other peoples' kids too. She also managed to sing in a group, sew, and make our homes comfortable and lovely. But when Nana Kitty visited, there were baked goods. Yummy ones. I don't think I can think of her without visualizing flour on the counter and butter in a bowl. So, when I am licking sticky fingers and feeling the warmth from my oven it is almost like my nana is near...

In the last few days I have made Challah bread (which I love to make but this was a flop and I am too embarrassed to discuss it now), the aforementioned cake and today, brownies. Why all of this baking?

It has something to do with stress. Papers. and the fact that I have no more gardening to do, unless I re-landscape the miniscule plot I am blessed with. And I cannot continue to read The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest until school is done. That leaves baking.

	Betty Crocker's Pineapple Upside Down cake- a classic, my nana Kitty would likely agree.. 1/4 cup butter
2/3	cup packed brown sugar
9	slices pineapple in juice (from 14-oz can), drained
1 1/3	cups all-purpose flour
1	cup granulated sugar
1/3	cup shortening
1 1/2	teaspoons baking powder
1/2	teaspoon salt
3/4	cup milk
1	egg

	Print these coupons...
	About Concordance™

1.	Heat oven to 350°F. In 9-inch square pan, melt butter in oven. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over melted butter. Arrange pineapple slices over brown sugar.
2.	In medium bowl, beat remaining ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour batter over pineapple and cherries.
3.	Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Immediately place heatproof serving plate upside down over pan; turn plate and pan over. Leave pan over cake a few minutes so brown sugar mixture can drizzle over cake; remove pan. Serve warm. Store cake loosely covered.

craft meets my favorite hot sauce

Read about it on CRAFT

I know this sauce has a cult like following. I am a card carrying member. I can conjure the taste of it in my mouth right now and I haven't had it in days. I put it on everything. Matt has raised his eyebrows at me while watching me splatter it on eggs, macaroni and cheese, rice and beans, stir fries etc. So, while I am not a huge fan of kitsch as decor, a hand embroidered Sriracha label framed in my kitchen would make me very happy. Maybe this is a summer project for me...

harina de maiz

We have been eating a lot of corn tortillas around here. My friend Lissa is someone who feels that she was born into the wrong culture. She learned Spanish in high school and never looked back. She has a beautiful daughter (with her Ecuadorian(?) husband) and loves to cook. She introduced me to the concept of homemade corn tortillas. Seriously easy, especially now that the boys can make them for me. We make a huge batch of black beans, seasoning them with toasted oregano, bay leaves, salt, garlic, onions, pepper and cumin. We start simmering the dried beans in the early afternoon. I whip up a batch of guacomole, cut up some fresh veg. and then use a dry skillet to cook the tortillas. We have been mostly dairy free lately due to probable lactose intolerance with the boys in the family, so no cheese. I don't have a tortilla iron but we use two plates. The tortillas are unbelievably delicious. Everyone loves them. We ate them twice this week for dinner. They don't last though. You can't make them too far in advance or they are tough.

Ya know what? That's all I've got. I am done with winter. Today one of my kids brought in a bird call gizmo from the Hitchcock Nature Center and I nearly teared up listening to the robins. All I want to do is eat.

Sorry about the horrible pictures. We don't get much sun in Winter. And it's cold. And where is the nearest bakery?

new cookie love and new faces

2 bits of important news

1. We found a new cookie recipe that yields outstanding cookies, cornflake and oatmeal chocolate chip, dense and crispy in a pecan sandy meets shortbread kinda way but with bits of cornflake and oatmeal, wow.

2. Ezra has been drawing a ton lately and he has his own style of portraiture that I think is quite expressive and sophisticated for a 4 yr. old. I love that both of my boys love to draw. But I am not sure they ever had a choice in the matter.

No, the bloke on the right is not happy to see you, he is carrying a "dagger".