Winter Break: Day II & III

Winter Break Day II (Christmas Day):
Hub told me he had to work, and I almost exclaimed "but it's Christmas!" and then realized that we don't celebrate Christmas. It's just so infectious that Christmas spirit! So it was me and les kides plus one (playdate)- baking project was definitely in order. We made 'smores bars with marshmallows, golden grahams, semisweet choc chips. And continued to trash the house. For dinner I made a hearty mid-winter roast.-fa lala la chaim.

'Smores Bars
Melt 1/2 c. butter in a saucepan, add 1 bag of marshmallows to butter and stir vigotously until marshmallows pretty much melt. Pour marshmallows into large pyrex bowl and mix in 5 c. golden grahams cereal and then 1/2 c. of semi-sweet chocolate. Mix well, chocolate will melt and be incorporated in with the marshmallow and golden grahams.


Day III: Not so good, my patience is starting to wear thin, although we did play at least 20 games of Connect Four. Had a minor eruption today- not at the kids, but still... Must work on being more centered "ommmmmmygod"

Winter Break: Day I

Day one of Winter Break and so far so good. With the assistance of TV, caffeine, an absorbing craft here and there, a daily baking project, and a well-placed play date this should be a snap, of my sanity. Being with kids indoors all day long requires lots of patience and a little creativity, and only a moderate amount of meds. All hilarity aside, I'm going to have to try and pull out my A game for the next week, until mother dear arrives and saves me just in the nick of time (New Year Eve).
Todays cooking/baking project will be tonight's dinner- Pizza. I got premade dough, and they can roll that out. Maybe I'll mix up some sauce, they can help me stir and measure. We can make pizza art with the leftover craft supplies from my kiddie cooking class- I have cardboard circles, red, orange, yellow tissue paper cut into squares, sequins, buttons, glitter glue. A mmm mmm good mixed media pizza.

Pizza Sauce
Sautee 2 -3 chopped garlic cloves in 2 tbsp. olive oil, when garlic become fragrant and slightly golden in tone, dump a can of fire roasred diced tomatoes and a can of tomato sauce, 2 tbsp. of tomato paste. Stir for a while until it gets saucy. Add 1 tsp. oregano, a couple grinds of black pepper. Cover and let simmer for 20 minutes or more.

Happy Holidays!

This holiday season is turning out to be quite picturesque. A robust and engulfing snow storm that began late saturday afternoon and continued to bluster through the night, made this sunday morning bright and white. And now that I am pretty much done with all my holiday commitments, I'm feeling as light and giddy as a snowflake. I just took the last of the brownie batches from the oven. I'm giving my neighbors, and the many people who make our life easier, a cookie tin piled full with brownies and a gift card to Starbucks to go along (coffee + brownies = a snatch of heaven).
Last week I leaped from the Hanukkah cooking and craftfest to the last of my chocolate orders to my last kiddie cooking class- which deserves a brief mention: Ice cream cone cupcakes. It was my chance to release my inner Willy Wonkette and let the sugar reign. Throughout the 10 week program I emphasized sensible eating and moderation, but in honor of my favorite chef quote: Moderation in everything, even moderation (Jacques Pepin), I let them have it!
Rachel, why are we baking cupcakes in ice cream cones? All the easier to lick the frosting and sprinkles off my dearies. I set up a milk bar for them and gave them a choice of chocolate, caramel, and strawberry syrup. I threw in a marshmallow dreidel project for good measure. And with a bag o' gelt and a kiddie baking set (whisk, rolling pin, and cookie cutters)I set them on their way.
And as a bright ending to our eight days of Hanukkah, we had company on friday night. It was a crispy finale- beginning with fried cod cakes and a bed of greens doused in a simple vinaigrette. Continuing on with a batch of extra golden crispy latkes among other olive oil inspired delicities.
And now I am done. Free to sit back and enjoy the holiday season, specatacle, and let's not forget-sales. I am planning an evening of holiday lights drive by shooting, me and my camera and the best and brightest my neighborhood has to offer. I really love this time of year! Kiddles are off as of thursday and there are a whole lot of things I want to do with them. Excited about the absence of schedules, just shoving the I-gotta-do-this/need-to-do-that's, and hanging out in our PJ's for a day or two. Yay!

Hanukkah!

I love the first snow of the season. I love the cold stillness of the morning after a snowfall. And I was lucky this year that I got to take a few breaths and enjoy this first snow, while it is still pristine, fluffy and perfect. Over the past couple of weeks I've had my nose down, back hunched, and hands atwitter working on a few holiday chocolate orders,and other assorted commitments. Last night was book group which is always a fun time. We read Astrid and Veronika which was worthwhile, the writing was so descriptive and detailed. The story is really touching and thought-provoking. Thumbs up from me. I made an eggnog cheesecake with a gingerbread crust which was OK, but not as good as last year's. I think I got a little too merry with the rum, and I don't care what anyone says- you could taste freezer in it.
Tomorrow night is the first night of Hanukkah...fa la la la la. Friday night dinner will have the fried food quotient of the holiday that makes fried potatoes into a quasi-religious icon- now that's something I believe in: the glory and wonder of a perfectly fried potato. It'll be pot roast and latkes, followed by jelly-filled donuts- and the first light of Hanukkah. The first night of Hanukkah is a lot like the first snow, exciting, new, fun. By the fifth night you're over it.
On sunday, when Hanukkah is still in it's early days I'm doing a family holiday cooking and craft project at the JCC. I figure I'll use this month's article as a template. We'll make jelly donut muffins, which seem to be very popular this season. Marshamallow dreidels dipped in chocolate would also be fun. To break up all the cooking activity they can make Hanukkah decorations with popsicle sticks and sparkles. I'll play Mama Doni's groovey Hanukkah disco CD (Hanukkah Fever). A fun time will be had by all.

LOTSA LATKES
Peel and grate 5 medium sized potatoes- squeezed of liquid, mix in 2 beaten eggs or 1/4 c. egg braters, 1 envelope onion soup mix. Drop by the small scoops in a skillet of sizzling hot vegetable oil. Fry on both sides until a warm and toasty shade of amber. Enjoy while hot.

Thanksgiving Thanks

I love Thanksgiving. I love that there is a day set aside for everyone in this great land to celebrate, regardless of personal politics, religion, orientation. A day to come together and enjoy a good meal, a meal that is often a group effort. It is a day that promotes gratitude and thankfulness, an attitude that I try to keep going throughout the year, but often fall short on. There is so much to be grateful for, even when the day is gray and prospects feel bleak. When I was a teen, and living in Australia, I started a running list of things to be thankful for, it was after a particular trying day in salt mines of highschool. The idea was to focus on the good stuff. Back then I think Johnny Depp, the Beatles, and cornetto ice cream cones were on the top of that list.
On my revised and updated list of things to be thankful for I'd place the kiddles, Hub, my parents and brothers. Our good health and our good fortune is huge. My friends also deserve a shout out. And then of course there are things like good music and good food that really enhances the quality of life. I've been really enjoying Feist and Bach lately. I am totally grateful (and relieved) that I got a few nice-sized chocolate orders for this holiday season. The Kiddie Cooking Class is also something that I'm happy about- it allows the kooky cook in me some play time, and a few bucks to boot! And I'm grateful that I found a paper that will publish me, a dream I've had for a long time ever since those highschool days.
But beyond the personal and specific, I am thankful for the beautiful world we live in, and for the majority of people that inhabit it who are good. I am grateful for the seasons. I give thanks for living in this country and enjoying all the comforts, riches, freedom, and beauty that it offers. I am grateful that I am allowed to be me; in a different place and at a different time it would not be so easy.
OK so there's my Thanksgiving benediction. Now enough talking and lets start eating.

Pecan Fudge Pie
Preheat oven to 375F. In a saucepan over med. high heat combine 1/2 c. butter/marg and 1 c. packed brown sugar, stir until a thick amber syrup occurs. Add 1 c. chocolate chips and stir until melted and smooth. Remove from heat, whisk in 2 beaten eggs, 1 tsp. vanilla extract. Once a thick chocolatey batter happens, add 1 1/2 c. chopped pecans. Spoon into prepared pie crust, smooth until even. Place in oven and bake for 35-40 mins.

Strike

I am burnt to a cinder. Sizzled to a crisp. Ready for an extended vacay in a land with no kitchens. If I never see the innards of another supermarket it'll be too soon. If I have to wash another pot, I will flip my lid. If this week was a book it'd be the Berenstain Bears and Too Much Cooking! Kiddie Cooking Class was the final spatula. I am coming off quite a bender of Kitchenicity. I spent the majority of the past week testing a jelly donut muffin recipe for an article I wrote. I finally figured it out after the fourth batch. I should have known all along that the testing is the easy part, the writing is where it gets rough. How many ways can you say yummy? How to describe messy projects as tidily as possible? Sometimes I feel like I am sifting through a pile of junk searching for a gem.

Kiddie Cooking Class project was tomato soup with crispy parmesan croutons. I improvised by using tomato sauce instead of whole canned tomatoes the recipe called for, knowing full well that lots of kids have issues with chunky textures when it comes to soup. I should've substituted it with tomato puree instead. The kiddies swallowed up the soup, due in no small part to the fact that I threw handfulls of parmesan cheese into it in addition to the DELICIOUS parmesan croutons. But the soup was unnecessarily salty, next time-tomato puree.
This morning I did a chocolate project with Girlette's class which was cute and fun and really easy. Cleaning up after a chocolate project with kids is like dealing with the aftermath of a chocolate tornado. No matter how much fun it is to witness the unfettered glee of kids wrist deep in chocolate, the scraping and scrubbing still sucks.
I was thinking that I would get a head start on the eggnog cheesecakes I'm giving our neighbors for Xmas (they freeze beautifully)- but there's no #$%*& way that's happening tonight. Tonight I am watching Top Chef and eating cereal.

Brown Butter Apple Pie

Just returned from paying a shiva call. Shiva is the 7 days of mourning immediately following the funeral. The mourner sits on a low stool, in their stocking feet, and accepts visitors who pay their respect to the passed and the family in mourning. I never know what to say. Today's visit was particularly difficult as the woman who lost her mother is a year younger than I am, with kids that are similar in age to mine, her mother was the same age as my mother. She still had a lot of living to do.
I baked a pie, because that's what I do. I felt almost embarassed as I placed it on the table alongside the other bakery stuff. What good is a pie when you're facing the rest of your life without your mother? Inevitably I started thinking about my mother and I how I just assume she'll always be here. If I'm a little abrupt on the phone- no matter I'll call her tomorrow. Sometimes when she's dispensing motherly advice I tune out, because I can always get more.
One day I will be on that low stool, in my stocking feet and I will have to face the concept of my life without my mother. My mother is always on my side, even when I'm wrong. She is like a soft and comfy chair in a world that can sometimes be harsh and unyielding. The world without my mother will be darker with more hard edges. All the brown butter apple pies in the world won't be able to sweeten that.

Brown Butter Apple Pie
Preheat oven to 400F. In saucepan melt 1/4 c. butter over med. high heat, stirring often until lightly browned. Set aside and cool for about 10-15 minutes. In the meantime, peel and core 3 large apples, cut into 1/2" slices. In a small bowl and with wire whisk beat 1/2 c. white sugar and 1 egg until yellow and custardy. Stir in 2 tbsp. all purpose flour and 1 tsp. vanilla. Beat in browned butter with whisk. Pour into pie crust, and smooth over bottom. Arrange apple slices on top. In a medium bowl mix 1/2 c. all purpose flour, 1/4 c. white sugar, 1/4 c. brown sugar, 1/2 tsp. apple pie spice together, then with a pastry blender or fork cut in 1/4 c. butter until coarse pea sized crumbs occur, add 1/2 c. chopped pecans. Sprinkle streusel over top of apples. Bake for 50-60 minutes until apples are tender. If necessary, cover edge of crust with strips of foil to prevent burning.