More Best Recipes: a winner!

And the winner is #96, Heather! 

Here's her comment:

***Jackie, you are absolutely right!  If this doesn't prove that I am utterly asleep in the morning hours than nothing does!***

The second winner is #43, Cara!

Here's what she wrote:

More Best Recipes: a giveaway!

I have begun to hit the cookbooks, looking for fun and interesting variations to our family Thanksgiving favorites.  First stop?  Always and forever - something from my collection of Cooks Illustrated paraphernalia.  I have magazines, I have cookbooks.  I even try to catch their show whenever I can.  I love me some Cooks Illustrated. 

Why?  You may ask.  They spell it out.  Nothing is worse then being told to blanch something and all that comes to mind is Streetcar Named Desire.  I need the play by play.  Definitions, descriptions, lots of drawings showing me exactly what I need to know, exactly when I need to know it.

For the past several years The New Best Recipe has been my most beloved cookbook.  I highly recommend getting it into the hands of any graduate or newlywed you might happen upon.  Definitely my best basic cookbook.  And just out is the new More Best Recipes.  This cookbook takes things a little further.  It houses many beloved recipes but these ones are a bit more interesting then everybody's favorites in it's predecessor.

Do you know how these particular recipes end up in these particular cookbooks?  Let me tell you.  They pick a common favorite recipes.  Then choose about 50 of the most popular variations of that recipe.  And then all of the Test Kitchen Chefs go to town...they cook up every one of these recipes, several times, making subtle variations: ingredient choices, temperature, tool.  After extensive testing the chefs decide upon the ultimate recipe keeping in mind ease, cost and number of ingredients.  I have yet to have one of their recipes fail me.  No lie.

So, I have a couple of extra copies of More Best Recipes.  Want one?  Just share your favorite Thanksgiving dish and you are entered to win.  I'll announce two winners next Tuesday.

destination: North Carolina

We're back.  The whole thing was pretty sublime, really.  Very mild temperatures, brilliant autumn displays, misty rain, fog, sunshine, blue skies, and days of uninterrupted time with my Love.  It was as near to perfection as I've experienced. 

Here's a quick run-down of our favorites, should you find yourself lucky enough to be heading to the Old North State:

We spent the first couple of days in the Triangle area.  We stayed at the Carolina Inn beside the UNC campus and it was lovely and southern and the perfect location from which to explore the region.  We ate at  La Farm and Watts Grocery.  Both very good but nothing compared to the local institution, Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen.  This place doesn't even have tables, it's only drive-thru, and the line heads out onto the road and pretty decently backs up traffic.  With good reason...those biscuits are the real deal. 

We also took a historic trolley tour of Raleigh which we really enjoyed.  Of the region, we fell most in love with Chapel Hill.

From there we headed up to Asheville.  Had we any idea how much we would adore it, we would have gone nowhere else.  Downtown, the River Arts District, The Blue Ridge Parkway, The Biltmore - each stop was more fantastic then the last.  We were, quite literally, in our version of heaven. 

We ate at The Admiral - a fantastic dive gastro-pub, The Sunny Point Cafe - where Sean who is the picture of understatement claimed he had the best meal of his life (fried green tomato sandwich, goat cheese, & bacon on a croissant) and 12 Bones, where I know I had the best sandwhich of my life - a BLT, green tomatoes.  We left town with a new obsession - can you guess what it is?

Needless to say, you had to tear us away from that town.  I think we have found "our place" that we will be returning to again and again.  We even found the most amazing, secluded lake that we now fantasize about one day owning a little place on. 

Speaking of secluded little get-aways - the Biltmore, wowza.  My sisters family breezed through there last summer and were less than impressed so I have to say that I had low expectations.  Yes, it is the largest private residence in the country, but sometimes it's like - you've seen one big fancy house, you've seen them all.  Well Sean and I were pretty much blown away by the whole place.  And I fully understand why my sisters clan was not.  If you are in the vicinity, I HIGHLY recommend going to the Biltmore.  At $60 a person, you want to know that you are getting your moneys worth - and there is plenty to see and do to make a day of it.  Give yourself lots of time to see it all.  But this is the crucial part - don't go if you're not going to pay the extra $10 a person and get the guided audio tour.  Without it, it is just another big, fancy home.  The tour really makes the place come alive.  There is so much fascinating back story and intricate detailing that you totally miss on your own.  To fully appreciate the home you need to understand the man who built it and the people who stayed there.  We will be going back, next time with more time on our hands.  And I'll be bringing a notebook to jot things down.  The style inspiration there was endless.

{Funny side note: We saw The Duggar family and their camera crew while we were at the Biltmore.  I think that I heard that they were filmimg their Christmas episode there.  I really wanted to talk with Jim-Bob and Michelle.  I have questions.}

So, it was a splendid weekend.  I am so happy to be back with my babies but really I just want to pack them up and head back.  One day, perhaps.

{Here are some great resources...we used "The Newcomers Guide to North Carolina", "Travel North Carolina""Backroads of North Carolina" to help plan our trip.}

gingerbread cupcakes with butter pecan topping:

Yesterday, after school, the kids and I whipped up some gingerbread cupcakes.  This was a new recipe for me and because I thought the kids might find them a bit boring, I decided to go with a butter pecan topping.  Today there are three remaining cupcakes only because I told the kids they needed to move on to something a bit more nourishing. 

Oliver requested that we have them every day.  So...they were a hit.  And they smell like fall.  Do you need any more convincing?

You can find a good gingerbread cake recipe here. 

{For the topping I used about a cup of crushed pecans, 1/3 cup of melted butter and a half cup of packed brown sugar.  I took the cupcakes out just before they were finished, spread the topping on and cooked them for a couple more minutes.}

ice-cream cake

I'm apparently all about illustrated recipes right now.  How awesome is this? 

French Toast Girl - Please make an entire cookbook just like this!

pie-in-a-jar

I just spotted this amazing tutorial for single serving pie in a jar over at our best bites.  These look amazing and would make such a great little gift or finale to an autumn dinner party, perhaps even for Thanksgiving.

I think I just decided what my first fall project will be.  I've got some lucky neighbors.

food allergies

So I'm not quote sure why I have put off for so long talking about this but I have.  In early July I found out that I have some food allergies.  Some rather severe food allergies.  Like I'm really allergic to eggs.  And wheat, gluten.  And dairy, beef, almonds, pinto beans...  I think you get the idea.  At this point me and water are on good terms.  And the thing is, I think that the reason that I haven't spoken about it is...I just can't seem to wrap my brain around it.  Each mealtime arrives and I just sort of get this dazed expression.  I've ben eating a lot of tortilla ships with A-1 sauce.  For real.  For everyone with beef allergies - It tastes like an overdone steak. I cannot believe that I've just admitted to this.

I'm actually so grateful to have found all this out.  I have been feeling really sick for really a long time and I am thrilled to begin to be understanding some of the reasons why.  And in truth it isn't all together that different from the way that I had been eating, I mean, the eggs definitely through me for a loop.  I think that it's being told that I can't eat all these things.  I can eat fruits and veggies to my hearts content.  I can eat poultry. And these are the things i eat most of the time anyway.  I even found this fantastic cake & icing mix that have no gluten or eggs or dairy - how is that even possible?

And yet I am still stumbling around in this weird stupor. 

Help.  Anyone out there going through something like this?  Anyone have a magic recipe, or tip or joke to snap me out of this? 

Anyone?

{photo from real simple}

Good Housekeeping Step by Step Cookbook: a giveaway!

So the first of my "learning to cook through books" cookbook has arrived.  I am really excited about this one and it seems like a great starting place for someone who, though cooking for years, is really a beginner.  It's Good Housekeepings' Step by Step Cookbook.  I must be a visual learner beacsue the layout and thorough illustrations really appeal to me.  It's like being in a cooking class but I can be in my PJ's.  Really perfect for me.  I am so excited to get started learning...!  I 'm sure my family is feeling more than a bit excited as well...

Do you want to join me?  I happened to get a second copy just in case.  If you live in the States and are looking to learn some new skills in the kitchen, leave an answer in the comment section below.  Here's the question:

What is your go-to healthy meal that always turns out delicious?

I will choose a winner at random, next Thursday.  Good luck and Bon Appetit!

far foods

Due to my reading choices as of late, I have been immersing myself in the concepts of slow food and eating local. So when I just spotted these images on swissmiss, they really shook me. Perhaps it takes a visual like this for people to see how ludicrous some of our choices are.

You can read more about the far foods alternative packaging concept here.

Alice Waters and Chez Panisse

Can you humor me with just a little more talk of Alice Waters?  I started reading her authorized biography a couple of days back and well, it just as the tag line says - "romantic, impractical, often eccentric and ultimately brilliant."

There are these two paragraphs, in particular, that I keep coming back to:

 (p.31)  "Much of the food that Alice had most loved was la cuisine du marche -   market cooking.  She had seen in in action many times.  A French housewife would stroll through a village market, sniffing, appraising, thinking.  If some farmer's basket of bristling, just harvested cardoons struck her fancy, and a particularly nice rabbit was hanging from the butcher's hook, the Frenchwoman would devise in her mind a rabbit-with-cardoons dish and then shop for harmonious accompaniments...the housewife would compose her bourride as she paced along the quay."

and then this other:

(p.37)  "Alice took to Martine immediately.  Alice's notions of French elegance were somewhat general; Martine's were highly specific.  Martine knew how to draw the perfect warm bath, just the right temperature, with a perfect little vase of flowers on the windowsill.  She knew how to arrange the curtains so that the light filtered through just so.  Martine had learned from her mother to search through the marches aux puces for the thing unanticipated but just right, and now she and Alice began to haunt the Bay Area's flea markets together."

For me, these seem to encapsulate many American womens' obsession with France.  I am no Francophile but without hesitation I can admit to being enviable of their je ne se quois.  And such a perfect phrase that is, for even if the French do know, they're not telling.  In the meantime we Americans live our lives: plastic water bottles, take-out food, Target & spray tans.  But it isn't our fault, it isn't our fault I tell you!  The French have been perfecting this je ne se quois for centuries.  Our mothers could not teach us what they never learned.  So instead we spend more money on more stuff thinking that this will give us style or grace or elegance.  Quite the opposite occurs. 

And perhaps, subconciously, that is what this blog has been to me.  An experiment in learning the subtleties, the small nuances in the everyday that make our living rich and beautiful.  I want to be a student of these things.  Will it change the world?  Most assuredly not.  Is it of supreme importance?  Again, no.  But I belive it will change my world, and the world of my children and theirs.  That it may effact our friends and our extended family.  That it may altar all us.  And that is more then enough.

summer menu

So while I am patiently awaiting my slew of cookbooks, and the subsequent knowledge therein, my family still must eat. And there is just something about the summer that makes it feel simply wrong to turn on the stove. So in my limited recipe arsenal I have a few keepers that I continue to recycle throughout the summertime - and I haven't heard a grumble yet.

So here's my favorite summertime breakfast, lunch & dinner staples.  They are embarrassingly simple but oh - so - delicious.

I grew up having berries and milk as a child and now my kids love it as well.  Throw your favorite, freshest berries in a bowl, add sugar to taste and cover with milk.  I told you these were easy.

For lunch, we have been eating tomato sandwiches like they are going out of style.  Trust me - sandwiches this good will always be in style.  We have tried them a myriad of ways and I know that there are many more but our favorite goes something like this: a really yummy multi-grain bread, toasted.  The freshest, best tomatoes available - preferably warm and just off the vine in our backyard.  Butter, salt, pepper.  We also like mayo or cream cheese.  Sean and the kids eat them with provolone, I eat mine with red onion.  They taste like summer in sandwich form.  Heaven.

And for dinner, Chicago-style hot dogs.  These are typically steamed but I like ours grilled.  Mustard, relish, peppers, cucumber, chopped onion, tomato wedges, pickle spear, celery salt (very important!), poppy seed bun.  No ketchup.  It's like a salad on a dog.  I like to call this diet food. 

Like I said, these are all ridiculously simple but if you have never tried them - don't judge just yet.  I wouldn't be surprised if these become staples in your families' summer diet as well.

 {images by: Johanna Joy, Lauren, Chuck T.}

Julie & Julia: sort of a book review

Let’s start of with the truth. Sometimes I swear. Not often and not too loudly, but nonetheless - it occurs.  The hypocrisy hides in the fact that I get easily turned off by books or films with too much swearing. Gran Torino, nearly killed me. Fantastic story. So. Much. Swearing.

And then just this weekend, I read Julie & Julia, in nearly a sitting. Not really but I did read it in less than 24 hours which means that there couldn’t have been too much standing in there. I am not coordinated enough to read & stand at the same time. It makes me dizzy. Where were we again?

Oh yes, swearing. The author of Julie & Julia makes a point out of people like me throughout the book. She snorts at us prudes that have trouble stomaching a recipe laden with obscenities. And even while I knew that I was being condescended I couldn't help but make clear within my interior which line in the sand I was standing on.

And yet, I still swear. Perhaps the difference lie within the fact that I do not like that I swear. I find it to be a nasty habit that I am attempting to cut back on. Others swear with gusto. It is a trademark or at the very least, a distinguishing characteristic of their persona. And yet, maybe this equates to no difference at all. Swearing is swearing and for all my righteous indignation I smell just like Ms. Gusto when the day is done. I don’t know.

So far as Julie & Julia goes – I was clearly compelled by the story as I did promptly finish the book so soon after beginning it. And yet, I can’t say that I loved it or would even recommend it. Perhaps I was so busy judging the heroine that it was difficult for me to simply enjoy her journey. And a day later I find myself liking the book even less but being inspired even more. Figure that out.

Today, like Julie,  I want to go buy a cookbook and work through it – cover to cover. Though in my case I would be choosing Alice Waters over Julia Child. I simply cannot conceive of ingesting that much butter. The mind reels.  Today, like Julie,  I want to risk. To step into that frightening abyss of the unknown irregardless of the consequences. I want to risk because I refuse to waste these precious days amongst the walking dead and risking is a sure fire way to pump some life into your living.  And today I want to acknowledge that I have skills and talent. Just because I am presently unaware of what those skills and talents may be does not negate the truth that surely they must be in there somewhere.

And, folks – in my world, that is quite a lot for today.

So thank you, Julie Powell - for so graphically sharing your inspiring story. Maybe one day, I too, will have an inspiring story to share, albeit with less f-bombs.

learning to cook through a book

Though I have been cooking meals for years I would never go so far as to say that I can cook. Somehow, cooking out of necessity and really being able to cook are two totally different things.

I want to know how to cook.

And though it seems like a lovely notion to be without responsibility, living in Paris, and able to attend Cordon Bleu to begin ones culinary career - that is someone else's story and most assuredly not my own. If I want to learn to cook, it's going to be through a book. Or perhaps, four.

These are the ones I've been eyeing and I think that they would make for a well rounded education - so far as the basics are concerned. Here's what I'm going for: I would like to prepare meals the are simple, delicious, beautiful & healthy. That's doable, no?

If you have been or were to be taught to cook through a book - which book would it be?

family reunion

My mother was going for a nostalgia feel.  It was a family reunion, after all.  So daily vintage tablecloths were arriving at the door, all courtesy of ebay.  For food, she went with fried chicken and spiral cut ham.  There was baked macaroni & cheese,  bacon & cheddar deviled eggs, dipped strawberries, carmel apple pie & strawberry short cake.  Oh, and root beer floats.  

We had a watermelon-seed spitting contest and there was some races and baseball on the back lawn.  

More than anything else, there were hours spent with the people that we love and haven't had good time with in years.  These kids that I grew up with, now have children of their own.  And we had the ridiculous joy of getting to see them run about just as we did so many years before.

It was nostalgic, yes.  Tablecloths or none.  

And it was the perfect way to end our month in Chicago - (though my heart is breaking a little bit today.)

{all photos by me}

more books on food

I had the most wonderful lunch with my friend Shauna the other day.  She prepared all sorts of fantastic food: butternut squash soup with yogurt, a tomato salad with spiced chicken and feta and assorted noshes of hummus and baklava and dark chocolate.  We sipped prosecco and pretended it was normal for us to do so near noon.  And we discussed everything and everything pertaining to food: the ritual & ceremony, the meaning & importance, health & weight, and how the simplicity of this manner of love and nourishment has gotten lost somewhere along the way. 

I am far from working through my thoughts & practices on all of the above but I am sure that as Americans - in this area in particular -  we have settled for the less and misplaced the more, that is right and good and delicious. 

Shauna pulled out a couple of books while I was there and that were that night added to my wish list:

Do you like reading or eating or reading on eating? 

Yeah, me too.

strawberries

We spent a good part of yesterday afternoon strawberry-picking. Really, it's just about the best activity for little kids. Eva is ever getting scolded for picking flowers from pots and there she was, free to pick them until her hearts content. In fact, upon departure there were only tiny white blossoms in her basket with not a strawberry to be found. The rest of us filled ours with red, juicy wonderfulness.

Strawberry fields forever?  Yes, please.

My mind had been going all day with what to do with those little jewels. And at the end of the day, do you know what it was that promised to satisfy the summer heat?

These -

Strawberry Mojitos:

18-24 fresh strawberries
1bunch fresh mint
12tablespoons brown sugar
3 limes, wedged
24ounces Captain Morgan's rum
Place 2-3 strawberries, 3 mint sprigs, and 2 tablespoons brown sugar in a shaker.
Squeeze 3 lime wedges over glass and then drop in wedges.
Mash together with a spoon.
Add ice and rum.
Cover and shake.
Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a strawberry.

Ummm...Yum.

{images:  1- fede_gen88, 2- Psychadelic Tuna, 3- Lara Ferroni}

Ngoc Minh Ngo: food

You can find more of her work here.

macarons

Sean is the type of guy that is pretty good at just about anything, the first time he tries his hand at it.  As a child that meant things like water or snow-skiing.  As an adult it primarily occurs with building, making or fixing.  I find this particular aspect of him fascinating, useful, and not just a little annoying.  This past Christmas, in addition to buying a gift for a family member who's name we drew from a hat - we also made them something homemade.  Sean decided to attempt truffles for our chocolate-loving niece, Hannah.  He had never made truffles before, but no matter.  They were, of course,  perfection.  Delicious and exquisite.  Each chocolate was hand painted with gold edible 'paint'.  They looked like something one might lay down $40 for at the chocolate counter in Neiman Marcus.

A couple of weeks ago I sent him this recipe for macarons.  He has joined America in the recent macaron obsession and was convinced that he could do as good of a job as the professionals.  Well, he can.  He has made them twice in two weeks.  He wanted to make them a second time just to be sure the first batch wasn't a fluke.  Both times they were fantastic.  Better than any we have ever purchased.  According to him, this recipe is foolproof.  So if you have been pining for macarons but don't want to shell out $1 a pop - you may want to give these a whirl.  I can't make any promises, though.  Sean is a modern day renaissance man - he might just have the touch.

cinco de mayo dinner party

Here in the South, early May is the perfect time to host an outdoor dinner party. The evenings are neither too hot nor too cool. The garden has fresh produce ready to be used and people are just wanting to be outside. I love the idea of hosting a Cinco de Mayo party – it just sounds fun. And Mexican food is just so yummy. Below is what I would be serving at my Cinco de Mayo party. Calling this Mexican food would be a real stretch, but the inspiration is all there. If outdoor dining is still a few weeks off for you, these great recipes can take you straight through Spring and into Summer.

Prosecco Sangria

1 lemon
1 cup bottled Morello cherries, drained, or pitted fresh or frozen tart red cherries
1/2 cup black cherry juice or cherry juice
1/2 cup orange liqueur (Cointreau)
1/4 cup brandy
OneS 750-liter bottle Prosecco
8 oz. raspberry-flavored ginger ale
Ice
Mint sprigs

Squeeze juice from the lemon. Combine lemon juice, cherries, black cherry juice, orange liqueur, and brandy in a large covered pitcher. Chill overnight to macerate.

To serve, add Prosecco, raspberry-flavored ginger ale, and ice; stir. Pour into tall glasses and garnish with fresh mint. Makes 8 servings.

found here.

Yucatecan Street Corn

with Lime, Chile Powder, & Grated Cotija, Serves 4

4 ears of fresh corn, in husks

3/4 cup crema, for slathering

1/2 cup of shredded cotija, for sprinkling (Parmasean or pecorino can be substituted)

2 limes, halved

2 tablespoons pure chile powder

fine-grain sea salt (optional)

Prepare a medium hot grill. Remove and husks other than the inner oe or two layers. Peel back inner husks but leave atttched. Discard the silk. Pull back the husks into place and grill, covered, rotating a couple of times, for 10 minutes. Taste one for doness. Remove from grill and slather with soem of the crema, sprinkle some of the cheese, drizzle with juice of half a lime dipped in chile pepper.

found here.

Tuna Ceviche

1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 pound sashimi quality yellowfin tuna
1/2 teaspoon aji amarillo*
1/2 rocoto pepper puree*

*available in Latin American specialty stores

In a blender, puree until smooth the garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and lime juice. Remove to a bowl and mix in the cilantro. Slice the tuna into thin, 1-inch long pieces.

Place tuna on a serving platter and spoon soy sauce mixture over each slice. Dot each piece with each of the purees, aji amarillo, and rocoto pepper.

found here.

Strawberry Galette

with tequila lime whipped cream, Serves 6 to 8

FOR THE WHIPPED CREAM:

whip heavy whipping cream while slowly adding lime juice & tequiila to taste.

FOR THE DOUGH:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
1 1/8 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sugar
8 ounces (1 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons ice water

FOR THE GALETTE:

1 pound strawberries, hulled
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Make the dough: Pulse flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor to combine. Add butter, and pulse until mixture forms coarse crumbs. Add ice water, and pulse until just combined (dough will still be crumbly). Shape dough into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (or overnight).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a floured surface, roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out a 10-inch round, and transfer to a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Make the galette: Cut strawberries lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Reserve end pieces for another use. Toss slices with 1/4 cup sugar and the cornstarch, and immediately arrange them in concentric circles on dough. Start 1 inch from edge, overlapping slices slightly. Fold edge of dough over berries. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Whisk together yolk and water. Brush dough with the egg wash, and sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar. Dot berries with butter. Bake until crust is golden brown, 40 to 45 minutes.
Transfer to a serving plate. Serve warm with tequila lime-whipped cream.

found here & modified.

Vita-Mix

I was given some money at Christmas time.  

Economic times are hard.  

I used it on a $400 blender.

I have no regrets.

I now have a growing obsession with green smoothies.  They don't need to actually be green (though isn't that a lovely green?) but they do need to contain greens.  Usually a couple handfuls of spinach.  For you newbies, they look a little scarier then they taste.  Actually they taste yummy.  And fresh.  And happy.  My smoothies taste happy.  Can you put a price tag on that?

Here's a handy guide to get you well on your way to happy smoothies- 

{images by Christaface}