Kaye Syrah

Blood Oranges

2012-02-26T07:13:00.001-08:00

I think I have found my favorite season here in Tunisia. The weather is not too cold, the sun still shows a brilliant blue nearly everyday, and the waves on the Mediterranean Sea have changed from their usual languid roll to a more spirited crash. That, and it is citrus season.

I have yet to tire of the variety of citrus that is available to us. I just adore the happy sight of tree branches laden with lemons and oranges, hanging over walls and lining the streets. Our local produce stand is keeping me flush with blood oranges, I am mad for them. The rind is pebbly and blushed crimson. When sliced, they reveal a deep orange that gives way to red and purple. Their flavor is a cross between an orange (duh) and berries. They are abundant and cheap, I bought a big bag full of them for around 2 bucks.

We've been eating them straight up, mixed into salads with fennel and arugula, and juiced. You will never see a more gorgeous juice and I highly recommend that you grab a nearby bottle of something sparkly and make yourself a Mimosa. No need to thank me, giving you that advice is just the right thing to do.

Last week I made the juice into a salmon hued curd. I intended to serve it as a parfait with some cream that would be whipped and blended with a little curd. The curd and cream would then be layered in a little compote and topped with candied pistachios. Well, that didn't happen.

The cream I had purchased would not whip. I had the Kitchen Aid cranked, and after 30 minutes my one cup of cream was only ever so slightly frothy and most of the kitchen was coated in milky splatter. Boo. You should know that the cream we have here is UHT, (on the left in the photo below) and usually it will whip with some effort but it wasn't going to cooperate that day. Instead we had blood orange curd with almond shortbread. It was still yummy, like a really decadent creamsicle.

I really wanted to try the parfait so I broke down and bought what a lot of people I polled use for whipped cream. A boxed mix for Creme Chantilly, in the photo above on the right. While it wasn't great, as you can imagine, it was okay. It tasted more of meringue than cream. I then made a quick syrup of equal parts water and sugar and cooked the pistachios in the syrup until they were bright in color and sticky. They were a pretty addition to the parfait.

Blood Orange Curd Parfait

Adapted from The Kitchn by Rebekah Peppler

makes about 1 1/2 cups

½ cup pistachios 

¼ cup water 

¼ cup granulated sugar

4 blood oranges, juiced and zested 

2 lemons, juiced and zested 

3 eggs 

1 yolk 

2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 

8 tablespoons unsalted butter; cut into small pieces

½ cup heavy whipping cream

First make the candied pistachios. Combine sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat and cook until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in pistachios and cook until the liquid is almost gone and the pistachios are coated with a fine candy coating. Remove from heat and spread pistachios to cool on a square of foil. While the pistachios are still slightly wet sprinkle with a little sugar so that they sparkle and are a little crunchy.

For the curd, whisk together the juice and zests, eggs, yolk and sugar in a heatproof bowl. Set bowl over a pot of barely simmering water and stir mixture with a wooden until thickened and you can draw a line across the back of your spoon (about 20 minutes). It should be the consistency of a loose pudding. Remove the bowl from heat and stir in the butter until smooth and creamy. Pass through a fine mesh strainer. Discard zest and any curdled egg bits. Chill completely.

Once the curd is chilled, whisk the whipped cream until soft peaks form. Fold together half of the blood orange curd with the whipped cream.

Ladle curd into cups, top with cream and sprinkle with pistachios.

The Expat Kitchen

2012-02-18T22:26:00.000-08:00

For those of us who live overseas our kitchens are the means through which we create a home.
Our kitchens are probably the same as yours but with a few twists. We bring things from all the places we have lived, taste memories and smells, and blend them into our new lives. For example your mothers roast chicken may sport a new Harissa glaze, and the curry you learned to make from your Amma, or housemaid, in Asia becomes something your children identify with as "home food". We don't love Laksa or Mee Goreng or Shwarma because street food is trendy, we love them because those foods are identified with a place, and people. The boundaries of our culinary worlds are a little blurred, and our kitchens reflect that.
When we go home we pack our suitcases with "essentials" to bring back with us. I often wonder what custom agents think when they see suitcases filled with peanut butter, tortillas, gatorade packets, and feta cheese. We visit grocery stores when we travel in the hopes of finding a longed for item, and when we find those things in our host country, we hoard. Even though we stockpile favorite foods we are quick to throw open our pantries to each other, to share our cache of chocolate chips, canned chipotles peppers, or vanilla extract.
There are some recipes however that we will never change. No matter where we live, or how many times we have moved, some recipes evoke such a strong memory of home that we would never dream of tinkering with them. This chocolate cake is one of them. My babysitter Stephanie taught me how to make it in elementary school. It was my favorite after school snack and I took pride in being able to make it myself. It's not a fancy cake but it is perfect for a lazy weekend afternoon at home.

Chocolate Crazy Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
This cake is vegan, the frosting however is not. The cake goes by many names, wacky cake, crazy cake, depression cake.....the baking soda interacts with the vinegar giving the cake its rise.
Spoiler alert: This is not a deeply gooey chocolate cake. It is very moist and lovely, but not super chocolatey. You can try to mess around with it, increase the cocoa powder or add chopped chocolate if you want, but when I make it, I don't change a thing.

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon white vinegar

6 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup strong coffee

Preheat to the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 9-inch square or round pan.

In a medium size mixing bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and sugar. In a glass small bowl combine the vanilla, white vinegar, vegetable oil and coffee. Pour the liquids over all the ingredients and stir the ingredients together until you can’t see any more flour and the batter looks fairly well homogenized.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the top is springy and a tester inserted in the center comes out dry. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack, then cut and serve it from the pan.

Variation: Instead of frosting this cake with the buttercream I have also had this cake sprinkled with 2 tablespoons of sugar mixed with 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon before baking. It is excellent!

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

2 cups confectioners' sugar

½ cup butter at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2-4 tablespoons milk

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes until very fluffy.

Add vanilla and 2 tablespoons of milk and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more milk if needed for spreading consistency.

Ginger

2012-02-15T07:00:00.000-08:00

As I posted previously, I really have an obsession with ginger at the moment.

No, not her, that's weird. Ginger the rhizome. I am fixated on ginger the rhizome.
In my pantry is a bottle of ground ginger, a jar of larger pieces that are dried, sort of like what you would find at the Chinese herbalist, a moderate stockpile of crystallized ginger, and a "hand" of fresh that I picked up at the market last weekend. Too much?

I have a habit of falling hard for a flavor. Then I will use it in all of its forms, in every which way one can imagine, and then just as suddenly the fling will be over and I'll be hard pressed to use whatever it was that I loved for a very long time.

Past flings have included caramel, lemon, lime, pumpkin, and white chocolate. I will find a way to work that flavor into everything I make, sweet, savory, hot, cold, you name it I will put the current flame to work.

Current flame.

This romance with ginger began innocently enough with a cookie. But then again why are we surprised, cookies are a gateway drug.

It was this cookie, Triple Ginger Cookies from Epicurious that lured me in. Then I found fresh ginger at the market and tried my hand at making my own crystallized ginger. Then I used fresh ginger in a pumpkin soup, and then some crystallized ginger in a braised pork shoulder. Then. Well, then, I was hooked.

I think this ginger mania, has rubbed off on my oldest daughter. She has been craving Masala tea, that warmly spiced mix of cardamom, cinnamon, and ginger. I've been making this mix for her of late and she just can't get enough. Need to google "Can obsession be genetic".

Guru Brew aka Masala Tea Mix

5 cups Water

3 whole Cinnamon sticks

3 inch piece Fresh Ginger peeled and thinly sliced

7 whole Green Cardamom Pods

4 whole Star Anise Pods

13 whole Cloves

¼ teaspoons Freshly Ground Black Pepper

10 Tea Bags, black or green tea

½ cup organic cane sugar

1 Tablespoon Vanilla, optional

Bring the water to a boil. Meanwhile in a mortar and pestle bash the ginger, cardamom pods, star anise, and cloves a few times to release their oils. Don’t make a puree just a few good smacks. To a mixing bowl add the cinnamon sticks, the bashed ginger, cardamom, star anise, and cloves, the black pepper, tea bags, and sugar. Add water once it comes to a boil, stir until sugar dissolves and set aside to steep for 20 minutes. Strain the mixture, pressing on the solids to remove as much liquid as possible. Discard the solids and pour the liquid into a storage container. I use this one from Ikea.

To serve, mix one part of the concentrate with one part milk. Heat to serve hot or pour over ice.

If you like a stronger tea use two parts of concentrate to one part milk.
I am not sure how long this will last stored in the refrigerator. I haven't been able to keep it around longer than 3 days, 5 days tops.
I hate counting out cardamom pods and cloves. Once you get the hang of how much 13 cloves looks like, live dangerously and just dump in what looks to be the same amount. You'll be just fine.

Pink Cookies and Lists

2012-02-14T05:30:00.000-08:00

I am a list maker.

I make lists on little sticky notes, on my hand, in my head, and on my favorite app on my iphone. I currently have 33 lists on my phone.

These are a few of my lists:
Things to do with my Brother in Law when he comes to visit
Things that make me laugh
Grocery list
Movie quotes
Days of the week in French
The address to our summer cabin, because I can never remember it.
Potential aliases
Wines to try
and finally.....things that I love.

There are lots of things on that list and since it is Valentine's Day I will give you a little peek.
Ginger. I am currently obsessed with ginger. I try to work it into everything I can think of. Soon I will grow tired of it, swear off it, and not use it again for a very long time.
The sound of waves crashing on the beach. It's like Xanax to me.
The smell of wet cedar. Instantly transports me home to Seattle.
OPI "I Pink I Love You" nail polish. Just because it's pretty.
My favorite book "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith.
Pink Cookies. Thick buttery cookies with piles of slightly crusted sugary frosting. Must be pink.

And don't even get me started on these people

Or this guy

Love them more than I have words to describe. Needless to say they are at the top of every list.

Yesterday the girls and I made a batch, or two, of sugar cookies, frosted them (pink of course) and handed them out to friends at school today. It was fun, and sweet, and I have to go now. I've eaten a few too many of them today and my sugar buzz has turned into the need for a nap.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sugar Cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup of sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

½ teaspoon almond extract

1 tablespoon of milk

Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

In a medium sized mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and then set aside.

Beat together the butter and sugar in large bowl of a stand mixer until fluffy and light in color. Add egg, milk, and extracts and beat well to combine. The mixture may look a little curdled at this point but don’t worry.

With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture, and beat until the cookie dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.

The dough may be a little crumbly, if so, knead it a bit and then divide the dough in half, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough and rolling pin with powdered sugar. Remove 1 portion of dough from the refrigerator at a time. Roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes, place at least 1-inch apart on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges. Transfer to a wire rack and let the cookies cool completely. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.

Crusting Buttercream Frosting

8 cups Icing Sugar

1 cup unsalted butter (If you want a pure white frosting use original Crisco)

Generous pinch of salt

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (use clear if you want white frosting)

½ cup – ¾ cup milk

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter, vanilla and salt until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl about 3 times.

With the mixer on low, add in the powder sugar, one cup at a time. When you find your mixture getting very thick and the mixer has a hard time incorporating the icing sugar, slowly add in some milk. The amount of milk you use will depend on how thick you want your frosting. For a creamy frosting use the greater quantity of milk, for a stiffer frosting, use the lesser quantity.

Tint the frosting as desired. This pipes like a dream. Allow the cookie or cake to sit uncovered to allow the frosting to set and crust. This will allow your decorations to hold up and transport easier.

Or, if you’re like me, eat the cookies right away.

You can freeze this frosting in an airtight container for 3 months. Defrost at room temperature, the whisk it a bit to fluff it up again.

Mmm, Mmm, Good

2012-02-06T05:05:00.000-08:00

I have a thing for soup. I eat it nearly every day and never tire of it. ~~I don't care what kind of soup it is either.~~ I will eat any kind of soup except mushroom. Or Birds Nest soup. I think that's it, no mushrooms or birds nests for me thank you.

I'm all set to be an old person with no teeth. Actually I think my love of soup began in first grade when I had very few teeth. It all started with Rita, the girl in my class who was a little naughty. The teacher would not allow Rita to go to the bathroom by herself, another student needed go with her. On this particular day it was my turn to chaperone. As we entered the bathroom Rita casually turned to me and asked, "Hey, do you want to see who can hold their breath the longest".

The gauntlet was thrown down in my 6 year old heart. I'm just a wee bit competitive.

It's important to remember through the rest of this story that I won. Remember that.

Well one thing led to another and before I knew it, I passed out. Cold. On my way down I hit the mirror, the stainless steel sink, and then the tile floor. In my defense I didn't know that such a thing could happen to a person. It's not like Mrs. Hurlbut thought to pass on this information as I left the class with Rita the hooligan, "Now girls, don't hold your breath, it might cause you to pass out".

This is the part where my parents just shake their heads. I knocked most of my teeth out. Thankfully they were baby teeth. For many years I was very close friends with my dentist and orthodontist.

But I won, so I had that going for me.

Anyway, without teeth there isn't much you can eat. I became a huge fan of Campbells anything. Cream of Tomato, Chicken Noodle, Chicken and Rice, even split pea. I had a thermos in my lunch box that my mom filled with soup. For some reason I also remember her putting in a few pieces of Almond Roca toffee. I think she was trying to give me a treat but didn't fully think that one through.

Flash forward to now, I am still a soup fan but I lean more toward homemade soups. I make one or two pots of soup every Sunday to have on hand for lunches throughout the week.

One of my favorite soups is creamy broccoli soup from the Rebar Modern Food cookbook. I was first introduced to this soup by my friend Becky. If you make it, you simply must make the almond pesto as well. It elevates an ordinary broccoli soup to another level. And, if you're feeling a little naughty you could also serve the soup with some crumbled bacon and grated cheddar cheese.

I bet Rita would.

Creamy Broccoli Soup with Almond Pesto

Adapted from Rebar Modern Food

8 Cups vegetable stock

2 tbsp olive oil

1 yellow onion chopped

6 garlic cloves chopped

1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves or 1 ½ tsp dried

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp ground red pepper

1 large potato peeled and diced

4 heads of broccoli, stems peeled and broccoli chopped

2 cups baby spinach leaves washed and dried

1 C half and half

½ tsp cracked black pepper

Heat oil in stock pot, add onion and sauté until wilted and lightly browned. Add garlic, salt, thyme, and ground red pepper. Sauté until garlic is lightly golden, do not burn the garlic. Stir in the broccoli, potato and stock. Bring to a simmer and cook until the broccoli and potato are very tender.

Puree the broccoli and broth in batches until smooth. If using a blender, remove the center of the lid as hot liquids will explode in a blender. Cover the hole in the lid with a clean dish cloth.

Reheat the puree and add the half and half. Season to taste with salt and pepper (last time I made this it needed an additional 1 tsp of salt)

Almond Pesto

½ bunch of Italian parsley stemmed and chopped

½ C toasted sliced almonds chopped finely

2 cloves garlic minced

½ C grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 C olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

To prepare pesto, place olive oil in blender, add remaining ingredients on top of oil and process until combined well. The pesto should not be completely smooth but should also not be really chunky.

Garnish

Serve soup with the almond pesto, grated Cheddar or Colby cheese, and diced crispy bacon.

Getting Ready

2012-02-04T23:07:00.000-08:00

Ah, coming home from a day at work, getting a load of laundry in the wash, dinner on the table, and lunches ready for the next day. I am constantly looking for ways to streamline this process. Or pawn it off on someone else.

I have developed a little strategy that works for me. I find that the more I get done on the weekend, the easier the week goes. That means after I go to the market, I come home and prep all the vegetables for the week. They are all washed and bagged and waiting in the crisper. Same goes with herbs. I make marinades, throw the meat in, and then freeze them flat in zip lock bags. I can take them out of the freezer the night before and as they thaw the marinade flavors them through saving me time. I make a big batch of granola and muffins for breakfasts and for snacking, a pot of soup to take for lunches, and lastly I soak and cook some beans to use throughout the week.

Here's a little peek into things I made this weekend.

Zucchini, Carrot,, and Ginger Muffins

Maple and Olive Oil Granola with Dried Cranberries and Pecans from Orangette. This recipe now replaces what used to be my favorite granola recipe. Make it today, your family will thank you.

Red Bell Peppers were at the market and so I roasted 4 of them, sliced them thinly, zipped them up in bags and stored them in the freezer to add to sauces and soups. Click here if you aren't sure how to roast your own. I also have small frozen bags of caramelized onions, extra chopped onions, citrus zest, stocks, and pestos to add flavor to what ever I am cooking. When the mood strikes I'll chop extra, cook extra etc. so that I can have things on hand for later. I use a zip top bag, remove all the air, flatten the contents and then stack them in the freezer to take up less space.

Black Beans to serve over rice later in the week

Onion Bisque, and Broccoli Soup with Almond Pesto

It seems like a lot of work but it pays off in the end. I like that I can portion the soups out into containers and then grab them in the morning to throw into my lunch. Evening meal times are less chaotic if the meat has already had a chance to marinate, the vegetables are already washed and chopped, and beans have already been soaked and cooked.

Zucchini, Carrot, and Ginger Muffins

Adapted from Epicurious

1/3 cup crystallized ginger coarsely chopped

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon finely grated fresh orange zest

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 cups coarsely grated zucchini

1 cups coarsely grated carrot

3/4 cup olive oil

3/4 cup honey

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

Coarse sugar for topping. Optional

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin pan with liners.

Place a tablespoon or two of sugar on a cutting board, slice the crystallized ginger and toss with the sugar then proceed to chop it coarsely tossing again in the sugar to make it less sticky to chop. In a mixing bowl whisk together the flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, zest, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add the chopped ginger to the dry ingredients and stir well.

In a separate medium size mixing bowl stir together the zucchini, carrot, oil, honey, eggs, and vanilla. Then blend in the dry ingredients until just combined.

Divide the batter among the prepared muffin cups, sprinkle liberally with coarse sugar, and bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 24 minutes.

Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes. Remove muffins from the pan and cool completely, 1 hour.

Preserved Lemons

2012-02-04T10:36:00.000-08:00

Andy and I were up and out the door early this morning. Saturday is market day and I haven't visited the market in La Marsa for a few weeks. I was excited to see if there was anything new, but I was really after a big bag of fresh lemons. I decided that today I was going to try my hand at making preserved lemons. I have been putting it off because it's just really easy to buy them at the grocery store. Actually that's not entirely the case. The real reason is because I'm impatient, and I don't want to wait a month before I can use them. But as is the case for most things I just knew that homemade had to be better than store bought.

For me just the thought of preserved lemons evokes images of foreign places, exotic spices, minarets, tagines, spice markets, and couscous. Oh hey! I live in that place.....I keep forgetting that.

Preserving citrus isn't unique to North Africa. Preserving citrus, preserving any food for that matter, is a practical and affordable way to keep food long after it's season has passed. Many cultures have their own versions for preserved lemons and limes. Some older English recipes add cinnamon and ginger or bay leaves and juniper berries. In parts of Asia the lemons are boiled until they split open then they are packed with salt and brined in vinegar.

However you choose to make them, preserved lemons have a very bright lemon flavor, they can also be powerfully acidic and very salty. I use them wherever I would use a fresh lemon. A little bit goes a long way.

Preserved lemons are not technically difficult to make, just good fruit and salt. Well, that and patience.

North African Preserved Lemons

Adapted from the Joy of Cooking

First things first, clean the lemons really well. Use a vegetable brush to give them a good scrub, and then dry them thoroughly.

Cut a little bit off from each end of the lemon, and then cut the lemons into quarters, stopping about ½ inch from the bottom. 

Pack coarse salt, about a tablespoon, into the center of the cut lemon. Don’t be shy with the salt. 

Put the salt-filled lemons in a clean, large glass jar with a tight-fitting lid, pressing the lemons very firmly into the jar to get the juices flowing.

If your lemons don’t give off much juice you’ll need to juice a few lemons to make sure that the lemons in the jar are covered with lemon juice, leaving ½ inch head space.

Make sure there are no air bubbles in your jar, wipe the rim of the jar clean and seal tightly.

Place the lemons in a cool dark place and turn them daily for 4 weeks. After this the lemons will be soft and ready to use. Store them after opening in the refrigerator for 6 months.

Before using them rinse well to remove the salt and with a spoon scrape out the pulp.

Dinner tonight

2012-01-24T20:30:00.000-08:00

It's finals week for my girls. The stress level at my house has reached an apex and we need some meals that will provide comfort, that can be eaten quickly, and won't require a knife and fork. I looked at my meal choices for the week and realized if I stuck to this plan we probably wouldn't sit down to a meal together. The girls would grab a bowl or plate of whatever was offered and sit at their desks until I could lure them away with a snack or some other break.

Now that is not my idea of a great week. I love our time together as a family, so tonight we are having ribs. You can't grab some and return to reading a book or editing a paper while eating ribs. Keyboards do not have a strong affinity for rib sauce. True fact. The girls will have to sit at the table with us, answer questions, and hold a conversation for at least a few minutes before they run back to their rooms to hit the books.

Ribs take a bit of effort, and I can't believe I decided to make them on a school night. These need a braise and then I elected to slosh them with some sauce and run them under the broiler as the ~~natives~~ students were getting restless. The recipe as written below directs you to cut them into individual ribs, deep fry them until crispy, and then coat them with the sauce. I liked my version but I think they would have had a little more flavor if I finished them on the grill. The smoke and caramelization would have upped the flavor of the sauce. However you choose to cook them, they are tender and tasty, and will keep your kids around long enough for you to hear about their day.

Spicy Baby Back Ribs

Adapted from A-Frame

Serves 4-6

FOR THE BRAISING LIQUID

1 orange

1 lemon

2 bay leaf

1 teaspoon white peppercorns

2 whole star anise

1 teaspoon whole cloves

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 sprig each thyme, rosemary and oregano

1 small knob peeled ginger

1 stalk lemon grass

4cloves garlic, peeled

4 tablespoons salt

FOR THE RIBS AND SAUCE

3 pounds baby back pork ribs

3/4 cup hoisin sauce

1/3 cup oyster sauce

1/3 cup black bean chile-garlic sauce

3/4 cups sambal chile sauce

1/3 cup rice wine vinegar

3/4 cups orange juice

Peanut oil, for frying

Toasted sesame seeds, for garnish

Sliced scallions, for garnish.

Juice the orange and lemon; reserve the rinds. In a large pot, combine the juices and rinds with the remaining braising liquid ingredients and 16 cups water. Place the ribs in the large pot, cutting them up, if necessary, to fit bring to a simmer over high heat, and then turn heat to low and simmer, covered, 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the ribs are tender but the meat is not falling off the bone.

Remove ribs from braising liquid and discard liquid.
Cool ribs for about 1 hour. Slice into individual ribs and refrigerate, uncovered, until cold, at least 2 hours.

Meanwhile, make the sauce: in a bowl, whisk the hoisin, oyster and black bean and sambal chile sauces with the rice wine vinegar and orange juice.

In a large heavy pot, heat enough peanut oil for deep-frying, to 350 degrees. Fry the ribs in batches until golden-brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Toss the ribs with the sauce in the bowl until completely coated. Serve garnished with sesame seeds and sliced scallions.

Yield: 4-6 servings

Cooks note: For times sake, or if you hate the idea of deep frying, you can follow my method. After braising the ribs I placed them on a foil lined sheet pan. I coated each side with sauce and let them sit for 20 minutes. I preheated the broiler, slicked more sauce over the ribs and then broiled them until they were warmed through and the sauce had become sticky. About 10 minutes.

Dinner with Henrietta

2012-01-23T10:01:00.000-08:00

From time to time I tell you about a book that I'm reading or something my bookclub read. The other evening we got together to talk about our latest book, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks". Fascinating book, a well told story, the back story to some very critical medical science, and the hard truth of ethics, race, and economics.

Henrietta Lacks was a poor Black woman in Maryland. She was diagnosed and treated for cervical cancer and the tissue taken from a biopsy of her cervix, for diagnostic purposes, was given to a research lab at Johns Hopkins Hospital. These are the infamous cells at the center of the story. These are the cells that have lived on and on and have been a part of medical history in this century. We are all, to some degree, in debt to Ms. Lacks and her immortal cells. You'll have to read the book for the full story, and I think you should. The author did a wonderful job retelling the events of Ms. Lacks life and that of her family and friends. I think she did Ms. Lacks proud in the telling of her story. That's all I'm going to say about the book though because I want you to read it!

Along with the book we share a meal together. Quite often the meals outshine the books, we're spoiled with some pretty good cooks in this group.

My friend Julie made Basic Green Soup from the Splendid Table, using this vegetable stock. It was a brilliantly green soup, velvet textured, and deeply flavored from that fabulous stock. I made a fennel salad with blood oranges (they are in season and oh, are they ever gorgeous), and Susan made caramelized oranges for our dessert. It was a lovely evening all around and we are grateful to Ms. Lacks and her immortal cells, she provided a group of friends a reason to get together for dinner.

Fennel and Parsley Salad with Oranges and Dried Cranberries

4 bulbs of fennel, trimmed of fronds and tough outer ribs removed

2 cups whole leaves of Italian or flat leaf parsley

3 oranges

½ cup pine nuts

½ red onion sliced thin

½ cup dried cranberries

½ cup crumbled feta cheese

¼ cup red wine vinegar

¼ cup olive oil

1 teaspoon honey

salt and pepper to taste

Remove the root end of each fennel bulb, and then cut each bulb in half. Lay cut side down and thinly slice. Place in large mixing bowl and set aside.

Wash and dry parsley as you would lettuce. Add to the fennel.

Using a sharp knife remove all the peel and pith from oranges. Then, over a bowl to catch any juice, remove the segments from the membrane, so that each segment is free from any pith or seeds. Squeeze any excess juice from orange membrane into a bowl and set aside for the dressing. Add the orange segments to the fennel.

In a sauté pan over medium high heat toast the pine nuts until lightly browned and fragrant. They burn easily so stir often. Once the pine nuts are evenly browned place in a bowl and set aside to cool.

Add the sliced onion to the reserved orange juice, let sit for 10 minutes then add the onions to the fennel, reserving the orange juice, along with the cranberries and feta cheese.

In a jar with a tight fitting lid place the red wine vinegar, olive oil, reserved orange juice, honey, a pinch of salt and some ground black pepper. Shake the dressing to combine well. Pour over fennel, top with pine nuts and toss well.

Oranges

2012-01-21T07:57:00.000-08:00

I love citrus season and it seems that everywhere I go of late I am surrounded by oranges. At the market today I picked up Clementines, Bergamots, Maltese, Demi Sanguine (light blood oranges), and regular old naval oranges.
There is a beautiful bowl of Clementines sitting on the sideboard, the Bergamots have perfumed the kitchen, and their sunny gold colors have just brightened up my day.

I love to use oranges in cooking. I like to use the juice in marinades, the zest in salad dressings, the flesh works well in both sweet and savory dishes. The different varieties we have here will provide much inspiration throughout the citrus season.

One of my recent favorite orange recipes is this little beauty.

I made this for a brunch last weekend. It is a wonderfully moist cake made with almonds, oranges and the fruitiest olive oil you can find. It keeps like a champ, isn't terribly sweet, and makes both the grown ups and the kids happy. I have to say that one of my favorite things about this cake is that the oranges came off the neighbors tree (I sent Andy on a "recon" mission), and the olive oil was fresh, cold pressed, and unfiltered from local olives. It is the most gorgeous olive oil I have ever tasted.

Moist Orange and Almond Olive Oil Cake (Torta di Mandorla)  

Adapted from Gina DePalma – pastry chef at Babbo

Ingredients: 

2 cups all-purpose flour 

1 cup almond flour 

3 teaspoons baking powder 

2 teaspoons kosher salt 

6 large eggs 

1 ½ cup granulated sugar 

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 

1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 

½ teaspoon pure almond extract

Grated zest of 1medium orange, chopped fine 

1 cup orange juice

For the Brown Butter Glaze: 

4 tablespoons unsalted butter 

2 cups confectioner’s sugar 

6 tablespoons whole milk 

A few drops of fresh lemon juice

Candied finely sliced orange peel or toasted sliced almonds for garnish, optional

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 14” X 4” loaf pans and set aside. See note.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flour, baking powder and salt to combine them and then set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl whisk the eggs lightly to break up the yolks. Add the sugar and mix until well combined. Add the olive oil and briskly stir until the mixture is a bit lighter in color and has thickened slightly, about 1 minute. Next add the extracts and zest, followed by the orange juice and mix until smooth.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and stir until they are thoroughly combined; continue blending until you have a smooth, emulsified batter, about 30 more seconds.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared pans, and bake the cake for 30 to 45 minutes. The cake is done when it has begun to pull away from the sides of the pan, springs back lightly when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cakes from the oven and with a skewer poke holes all over the top of the cakes.

6. While the cakes are baking, make the glaze. Melt the butter over medium heat in a small, heavy saucepan. When the bubbles subside, lower the heat and watch the butter carefully, swirling it in the pan occasionally to distribute the heat. When the butter begins to turn a light tan color and smells slightly nutty, turn off the heat and let the butter sit. It will continue to darken as it sits.

7. While the butter cools, sift the confectioner’s sugar into a medium bowl. Whisk in the milk until completely smooth but thick, then slowly whisk in the butter. Taste the glaze and add a few drops of lemon juice to balance the sweetness. If desired, stir in the toasted almonds. Spread glaze onto the top of the cakes and letting it seep into the holes, let the cakes sit until set and dry. If you would rather use the orange peel on top of the cakes pour over ¾ of the glaze, place longs very thin strips of peel over the tops of the cakes and then gently spoon the remaining glaze over the orange peel to help them adhere.

Cooks note:

Cake can be cooked in two 9 inch round cake pans.

A Celebration of Good Things

2012-01-16T06:41:00.000-08:00

We hosted a party last weekend. A sort of housewarming, kick off to the new semester, Fete de la Revolution (it was after all the one year anniversary of the Tunisian revolution), and well, why not have a party.

Mozart Klugen, chocolate with marzipan from Vienna

Friends of ours host an annual Chocolate, Cheese, and Wine party every January. We thought it was a brilliant idea and completely stole it. Before the Christmas holiday we sent out invitations asking everyone to pick up some chocolates, cheese or wine on their travels. We slated the party for the first weekend after the break, and invited everyone to bring their goodies to share. It was a great time to catch up with friends, hear about their travel adventures, and to have fun sampling some special treats.

Chocolate Almonds from Riquewihr France

Dark Chocolate from Euphoria Chocolates Oregon

Chocolates from Prague

Pimento cheese, a comforting fondue, and Aged (real) English Cheddar, played nicely with the purchased and homemade specialities of Chocolate Cheesecake, Bourbon Brownies, and these......

I saw this recipe on the blog Kevin and Amanda and it seemed like the perfect thing to make for a chocolate themed party, but there were problems. I don't have ready access to cake mixes, or sour cream and so modifications were in order. I used my favorite Sour Cream and Chocolate Cupcake recipe using creme fraiche instead of sour cream and I also made a few alterations to a brownie recipe to use as the filling. The brownie batter was chilled, formed into balls, frozen and then dropped into the cupcake batter before baking. The brownie batter bakes a bit but becomes a very soft fudgey, almost molten filling. Once topped with the frosting I dare say they are hedonistic! You should have a party just so you can make these cupcakes!

Fudge Brownie Filled Chocolate Cupcakes with Cocoa Buttercream

idea adapted from kevin & amanda recipes adapted from here and here

Makes 24

Fudge Brownies:

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup boiling water

4 tablespoons melted butter

½ cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups sugar

1 ¾ cups all purpose flour

¾ teaspoon salt

Sour Cream Chocolate Cupcakes:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

1 cups sour cream

½ cup vegetable oil

½ cup water

1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

½ teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs

4oz unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled

1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips

For the brownies:

In a large bowl whisk together until smooth the cocoa, and boiling water. Stir in the butter and oil. (Mixture may look curdled.) Add eggs, and vanilla and continue to blend until smooth. Add sugar until well incorporated and then mix in flour and salt with rubber spatula until combined.

Refrigerate batter until firm. Form 24, 1inch balls from the brownie batter. Place on a cookie sheet and freeze until firm.

For the cupcakes:

Place all cupcake ingredients in large bowl, and beat with an electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat the batter on high speed for 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each a little less than1/2 full.

Place one frozen ball of brownie batter into center of each cupcake.

Bake 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cake part, not center with brownie filling, comes out clean. Remove from pan; place on cooling rack. Cool completely.

Once cooled, frost with Cocoa Buttercream and serve.

Cocoa Buttercream

1 ½ cups unsalted butter softened to room temperature

4 ¾ cup icing sugar

¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 tablespoons milk

Beat butter using the paddle attachment of stand mixer until the butter is light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes. Sift powdered sugar and cocoa into the mixing bowl. Turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the dry ingredients do not blow everywhere) and mix until the sugar and cocoa are absorbed by the butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes. If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add a little more sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add additional milk 1 tablespoon at a time.

Dinner Chez Moi

2012-01-11T11:07:00.000-08:00

I had a colleague ask me how I put together dinner every night for my family while working full time. Now this is not the question of the ages, millions of women all over the world do this daily and probably with much more thought and finesse than I do.

The process goes a little like this...
On the way out the door in the morning I scan the freezer or pantry and pull out something to build a main dish around. This morning it was chicken breasts. Into the fridge they went to defrost. When I got home the questions from my daughters started as to what we would be eating.

Me: Chicken....and....
Them: Pasta?
Me: No, let me think.
Them: Rice?
The picky one: No sauce!
Me: Give me a minute. Hey! Why are there only 3 chicken breasts in the package? Who only puts 3 chicken breasts in a package. Now what?

I do what any Mom does when faced with the uncertainty of what to cook for dinner. I watched an episode of Modern Family. Oh that Gloria!

Back to the kitchen. There is hummus. Good. But no pita. Bad. There is lettuce, and cucumber, and tomato. Good. Oh and yogurt. Ah Ha! We had a salad at a friends recently that started with a base of hummus and was then topped with lettuce, red onion, tomato, cucumber, olives, feta and then dressed with tzaziki. Drat no olives or feta, but there are capers. I'll saute the chicken and slice it for the top of the salad and we're in business.

And so there you have it the schizophrenic kitchen murmurings of a working mom. I don't have a recipe for this per se, as with many salads things just sort of come together on the plate.

Mediterranean Salad
Serves 4

Hummus
1 head of Romaine lettuce, cleaned and chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
Tzaziki
Chicken breast, cooked and sliced
2 tablespoons of capers drained

In a small bowl combine the balsamic vinegar and the olive oil. Add to this the cucumber, tomato and red onion. Let sit for 15 minutes.
On a plate spread about 1/3 cup of hummus. Pile on top a few large handfuls of lettuce. Spoon over the lettuce 1/4 of the cucumber mixture and some of the tzaziki. Add the chicken, sprinkle on a few capers and viola!

Some nice black olives, sun dried tomatoes, feta and pine nuts would be a nice addition.

Back Home

2012-01-05T08:15:00.000-08:00

Overlooking Carthage

Photo by Julie Bredy

We are back from our travels, settling back into life: laundry, orthodontist appointments, grocery shopping. There needs to be a better re-entry than yesterday I was strolling through quaint Alsatian cobblestone streets to today I'm driving the kids to the orthodontist and pre-treating laundry.

In Singapore we had a lovely woman who lived with us, Miss Gay. She ran the house and took very good care of us. I knew that our first night home from anywhere we would have the most tender, well flavored chicken adobo. The meat would be falling off the bones, the sauce was perfect for spooning over rice. Heck it was perfect for drinking with a straw. She also made green beans that were out of this world, I don't know what she did to them but there were never enough.

I sat in the kitchen on Tuesday and was abruptly reminded that there would be no chicken adobo, no green beans tonight. We were on our own. That meal was our coming home meal in Asia. What would be our coming home meal now? I ransacked the pantry and freezer, hmmm, there was a butternut squash the size of a 3 month old baby (I really am not exaggerating, it weighed 12 pounds), and there were chicken thighs in the freezer. I set about breaking down the squash and roasting it but I wasn't sure what to do with the chicken. Gay used to also make a great roast chicken (always the moistest chicken on the planet. Who consistently makes moist roast chicken?), and she used a mix of ginger, paprika and lemon peel. Voila! We are in business. While I'm still not sold that this will be our comfort, coming home meal, it hit the spot.

Lemon-Ginger Roast Chicken Thighs

Adapted from Epicurious

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger

2 teaspoons grated lemon peel

2 teaspoons paprika

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

8 large chicken thighs.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. In a small bowl stir together the olive oil, ginger, lemon peel, paprika, salt and black pepper. Rub this mixture over the chicken thighs and place the chicken in a 9X13 inch baking dish. Roast until the juices run clear when pierced or until thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 180°F, about 35-40 minutes.

Transfer chicken to serving platter. Pour pan juices into medium bowl, spoon off fat and discard. Drizzle juices over chicken and serve.

Caramelized Butternut Squash

2 medium butternut squash (4 to 5 pounds total)

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut off and discard the ends of each butternut squash. Peel the squash, cut them in half lengthwise, and remove the seeds. Cut the squash into 1 1/4 to 1 1/2-inch cubes and place them on a baking sheet. Add the melted butter, brown sugar, salt, and pepper. With clean hands, toss all the ingredients together and spread in a single layer on the baking sheet. Roast for 45 to 55 minutes, until the squash is tender and the glaze begins to caramelize. While roasting, turn the squash a few times with a spatula, to be sure it browns evenly. Taste for seasonings and serve hot.

Happy New Year

2011-12-31T04:50:00.000-08:00

Now is the time to free the heart,

Let all intentions and worries stop,

Free the joy inside the self,

Awaken to the wonder of your life.

Open your eyes and see the friends

Whose hearts recognize your face as kin,

Those whose kindness watchful and near,

Encourages you to live everything here.

See the gifts the years have given,

Things your effort could never earn,

The health to enjoy who you want to be

And the mind to mirror- mystery.

A good beginning is half the work.

- Fr. John O'Donohue

Wishing you a blessed and joy filled New Year!

Leaving with Gratitude

2011-12-29T07:04:00.000-08:00

Prague is a gorgeous city. That sentence does not adequately describe the beauty of the place. It is near picture perfect on every turn. I quickly ran out of words to describe its grandeur.

Lovely, stunning, magnificent, enchanting, charming, beautiful.....Next time I'm out for a walk I need to bring my thesaurus.

A candle light memorial to Vaclav Havel, the former President of the Czech Republic, who passed away our first evening in Prague

A view from St. Charles Bridge. Absolute charm.

The Astronomical Clock. An absolute must see. Sit in the cafe, drink a little gluhwien

and watch the show.

St. Vitus Cathedral. I never grow tired of this cathedral and see new details with every visit.

And as beautiful as the city is, it is all the richer for the friends we shared the holiday with.

Tomorrow morning we leave Prague and will be meeting some friends in France. It has only been four months since we've seen them, but it feels much, much longer. We are just chomping at the bit to get there, squeeze them tight, and talk long into the night. I can't wait to hear our kids in the next room laughing and falling into the comfortable banter that comes when you are with people you love.

I would however be remiss in moving on without saying thank you to our Prague hosts. This may seem unusual to many of you, but we don't know them. We've never even met them. They are the neighbor of friends of ours who live here. Our friends asked if we could possibly stay in their apartment while were visiting and they were quite happy for us to do so. Their only request was that we water their plants. This is an act of hospitality that I do hope we can return, so BB, if you are reading this, I do hope that you and your husband will come to Tunisia so that we may repay the favor!

As we leave, amidst the cleaning and the packing, we made some muffins to leave in their freezer. We have other gifts too, none of it very extravagant, but things that are given with a lot of gratitude.

Oatmeal Muffins with Crystallized Ginger and Dried Cherries

makes 18 muffins

1 cup oatmeal

1 cup plain yogurt

¼ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup dark brown sugar

2 eggs

½ cup vegetable oil

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

2 cups all purpose flour

½ cup desiccated coconut

¼ cup finely chopped crystallized ginger

½ cup finely chopped dried cherries

coarse sugar or granola for topping

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin pan with paper liners.

In a large mixing bowl combine the oatmeal and yogurt and set aside for 30 minutes.

To the oatmeal mixture add the sugars, eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and mix thoroughly.

Add the flour, baking soda, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and coconut and stir until just combined, there may be some lumps and streaks of flour still. Gently fold in the ginger and cherries.

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full, top with a generous sprinkling of sugar or granola and bake for 20 minutes or until the tops are lightly browned and they spring back when touched.

If you give a mousse a cookie

2011-12-25T21:35:00.000-08:00

Your life will be forever changed.

On Christmas Day I was a little melancholy. I don't think that I am alone in that feeling. There was a wistful nostalgia for Christmas past, a feeling that I could never really get traction on the holiday spirit this year, and well, we are just exhausted from the past few months.

After trekking across Eastern Europe for the past week, yesterday we just stayed put. We relaxed, caught up on reading, napped, and watched a few Christmas movies. We checked in with family far away and snuggled up to the ones nearby. And then after dinner we laughed great rumbling belly laughs which is the best medicine!

We traveled to Prague with friends and Julie has been feeding us well this week. Yesterday she made a variation of some short ribs that she had made for her husbands birthday a while back. Instead of the ribs we picked out a pork shoulder and it was excellent. We also ate potatoes mashed with celery root and Emmenthaler, green beans and roasted radicchio. Those were separate dishes by the way, that would be some sort of funky mashed potatoes if you included the beans and the radicchio. It was as always a lovely meal. To finish, I made a chocolate mousse. I wanted something crunchy to offset the mousse and while Julie and I were closing out Marks and Spencer I found some Dark Chocolate and Ginger Florentines. They were perfect, the almonds paired well with the Amaretto liqueur in the mousse and I just think that ginger and chocolate play nicely together.

I followed the recipe from Jamie Oliver's website but didn't serve the mousse with the cherries and sesame cookies. Other than an unfortunate, but not disastrous, mishap with what I thought was whipping cream (It was half and half which does not whip, and the grocery was closed. In my defense I don't read Czech) the mousse came together easily and with out a lot of fuss.

Life changing? Well I think that may be asking a lot of the mousse, but it was really, really, very scrumptious. Now if you are game to make your own Florentines I'd give this recipe from The Curious Baker a whirl. In fact, I'm planning on it.

Delicious Chocolate Mousse

From Jamie Oliver

300g good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken into small pieces

Sea salt

8 large eggs, preferably free-range or organic

100g caster sugar (4½ heaped tablespoons)

300ml double cream

Amaretto

2 tablespoons good-quality cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting

2 packs of sesame snaps

400 grams of dried sour cherries

1. Place the dark chocolate and a tiny pinch of salt in a heatproof bowl and sit it over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the water doesn’t touch the base of the bowl. Leave to slowly melt, stirring occasionally.

2. Meanwhile, separate your eggs so you have the whites in one bowl and the yolks in another. Add the sugar to the bowl of yolks and beat until the sugar has dissolved and its silky and smooth. Whisk the whites with a tiny pinch of salt until they form soft peaks – you should be able to hold the bowl upside down over your head without them falling out! In a third bowl, beat the cream until slightly thick and just whipped.

3. Once the chocolate has melted, carefully lift the bowl out of the pan. Add 75ml (3 shots) of amaretto and the cocoa powder to your bowl of yolks and mix well. (I did not have cocoa powder, I used an additional 200 grams of dark chocolate melted to the egg yolks) Tip in the cream and mix again, then fold through the melted chocolate until it’s well combined and a gorgeous colour. Finish by tipping in the egg whites, and then keep folding, from the outside in in a figure-of-eight until the mix is smooth and evenly coloured. It will look a bit dodgy at first, but trust me it will come together. Spoon or ladle the mousse into a big serving bowl or divide between little glasses or cappuccino cups and pop in the fridge for an hour or two until set.

4. Just before you’re ready to serve, give the mousse a lovely dusting of cocoa. Pop your dried cherries in a small pan, add a wineglass of amaretto then top with enough water to cover. Put on the heat and bring to the boil, then turn the heat off and leave to stand for a bit. This will bring the cherries back to life. Leaving them in the packet, bash up your sesame snaps in a pestle and mortar. Tip them out, and break up any larger bits that are left so its nutty with a caramelly kick and a bit of a crunch. Serve this in the mortar next to your chocolate mousse with a bowl of those beautiful cherries on the side so everyone can dig in and help themselves. It may look a bit rustic, but honestly, it’s the best chocolate mousse I’ve ever tasted!

Cooks note: The only changes I made were as follows. I did not have cocoa powder, I used an extra 200grams of dark chocolate (70% Lindt) and I did not serve this with cherries and the sesame snaps. I garnished the mousse with Dark Chocolate and Ginger Florentines from Marks and Spencer, but make your own, you'll be glad you did.

For Ever Let This Place Be

2011-12-23T22:06:00.000-08:00

We went to Auschwitz and Birkenau, the infamous Nazi concentration/extermination camps. I have been before but still find myself caught off guard and startled by the barbarity and anguish of the place.

We were the first visitors of the day. Snow had fallen the night before. It was cold, a cold that takes your breath away and moves quickly to your bones. Polish winters are unforgiving. The morning's fog had not lifted making the camp feel ghostlike and invisible. The atmosphere was eerie, frightening, despairing. In the distance we could hear dogs barking and gun shots from hunters.

I asked my friend how a place like this could ever be redeemed. It can't she said. It is to be forever a place of wailing and lament.

Christmas Spirit

2011-12-22T07:57:00.000-08:00

I found my Christmas Spirit. It was hiding in Eastern Europe. Who knew.

Christmas while living overseas is always a little bit complicated. It is nearly impossible to conjure up the sentiment and traditions of your past, try as you may. When we lived in Singapore there was no change of seasons to set the mood. There were still decorations around the city and Christmas carols playing at the malls, but there weren't any cedar boughs, fires giving off their warmth, or the scent of mulling spices filling the house with their friendly inviting scent. You learned to trade in the pine trees and snow for palm trees and surfing. You learned to find some new traditions to incorporate with the old. Now we live in a country that does not celebrate Christmas, and the lack of acknowledgment of the holiday has left me feeling a little disjointed.

All the more reason to get back to the real meaning of Christmas. Christmas is not found in the cedar boughs, the carols, or the external trappings of the holiday that we surround ourselves with. It is the culmination of Advent, the celebration that God did indeed come near.

"God came to us because he wanted to join us on the road, to listen to our story, and to help us realize that we are not walking in circles but moving towards the house of peace and joy. This is the great mystery of Christmas that continues to give us comfort and consolation: we are not alone on our journey. The God of love who gave us life sent his only Son to be with us at all times and in all places, so that we never have to feel lost but always can trust that he walks with us.

Christmas is the renewed invitation not to be afraid and to let him-whose love is greater than our own hearts and minds can comprehend-be our companion"

- Henri Nouwen, Gracias

And so, in the Christmas Markets of Europe, strolling arm and arm with my husband, breaking bread and sharing a glass of wine with friends I found my Christmas Spirit. I have friends for the journey, a family that fills my heart with immense comfort and affection, and a God who is audacious in His love for me.

Merry Christmas!

Time for a little travel......

2011-12-17T11:38:00.000-08:00

I'm heading out with my family in the morning. We are in search of a white Christmas! After lots of Christmases spent in the tropics, on beaches, and swatting mosquitoes, we are headed north to colder weather and with our fingers (and toes) crossed that we'll see a little snow.

We are flying in to Vienna tomorrow morning then we are planning to catch up with friends in Prague and Strasbourg. We will see the sights and of course sample some great food. We will be searching out the best pierogis, sausages, hot chocolate and mulled wine that can be found. To round it all out of course will be some pastries, those multi layered, sinfully creamy confections that you mean to share with someone, but really you end up eating the whole thing yourself.

Thank goodness there will be lots of walking involved.

This morning I made some muffins for the girls and their friends. I planned to snap a few photos but they were all eaten before I could get my camera. I believe that to be a resounding endorsement! The LA Times posted their best recipes from the past 26 years, this little gem was among them.

Winery's Oatmeal-Coconut Muffins

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ cup vegetable oil

½ cup dark brown sugar, packed

1 egg

¾ cup shredded coconut, toasted, see note*

Raspberry preserves

In a medium mixing bowl combine the oats and buttermilk. Let them soak for at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile toast the coconut, see note*. Into another medium mixing bowl place the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Whisk together well and set aside. Into the oatmeal mixture add the vegetable oil, brown sugar, egg and coconut, and stir well to combine. Blend in the dry ingredients, mixing only enough to moisten. Spoon the batter into a muffin tin that has been lined with papers. Using small teaspoon, place preserves in center of each muffin and cover with a bit of the batter. Bake at 350 degrees 20 minutes. Makes 1 dozen.

*Toasting coconut: Place the coconut in a dry sauté pan over medium high heat and stir constantly. As the coconut begins to brown continue cooking until it reaches the desired color. I like mine pretty dark, I toasted my coconut for about 8 minutes.

You Know You Got to Have Friends

2011-12-15T09:26:00.000-08:00

Sing along with me......

You know you got to have friends

The feelings oh so strong

You got to have friends

To make that day last long

I had some friends, but they're gone

Something' came and took them away

And from the dusk 'til the dawn

Here is where I'll stay

Standing at the end of the road boys,

Waitin' for my new friends to come

I don't care if I'm hungry or cold

I got to get me some of them

When we made the decision to leave Singapore and move to Tunisia we left a lot of friends behind. I'm so grateful that we live in the day and age of Skype, and email. I'm also grateful that my friends are adventurous and like to travel. That means, I could leave with the assurance that there will be visitors.

We also left Singapore knowing that friends would be headed to Tunisia with us, and that we had dear friends waiting for us there. You feel much more confident having someones hand to hold whether that is a husband, a parent or a friend. The world isn't quite so big and scary with a friend by your side.

Tonight we are gathering with friends to celebrate a birthday, to congratulate each other on a job well done, to mark the beginning of a Merry and Bright Holiday. There will be new friends, old friends, friends who fit your hand like a worn glove, friends who we are just beginning to fold into our lives.

Like the song says.....You know you got to have friends.

For Lauren, Happy Birthday Friend!

Mexican Chocolate Cake

Gourmet | April 2004

For cake

2 sticks unsalted butter

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

¾ cup water

2 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk

2 tablespoons vanilla

1 teaspoon coffee extract

½ teaspoon almond extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

4 ounces chopped dark chocolate with chilies such as Lindt Au Piment Rouge

For glaze

½ stick unsalted butter

½ cup half-and-half

¾ cup confectioners sugar

5 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), finely chopped

1/4 teaspoon salt

Make cake:

Preheat oven to 350°F and place oven rack in middle of oven. Grease and flour a 12 cup Bundt pan.

Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan over medium low heat. Once melted whisk in cocoa and then add the water and whisk until smooth. Remove from the heat and whisk in the sugar, eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, coffee and almond extracts.

In a medium size bowl sift or whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, then add to the cocoa mixture and whisk until just combined (there may be a few lumps). Stir in the chopped chocolate.

Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake until a wooden pick or skewer comes out with a few crumbs clinging to the skewer, 35-45 minutes.

Cool cake in pan on a rack 20 minutes, then loosen edges with a thin knife and invert onto a plate.

Make glaze:

Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat, stir in half-and-half and confectioners sugar. Add chocolate and cook, stirring constantly, until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in salt. Cool glaze until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.

Spoon glaze over top and sides of cooled cake and spread with a small offset spatula or knife to cover completely.

Christmas Cookies

2011-12-11T20:58:00.000-08:00

I had not planned to make Christmas cookies this year. Many of you are now probably calling my husband to inquire as to my well being.

During a typical holiday season I will make dozens of Christmas cookies. But this isn't a typical holiday season and we are having a difficult time summoning up some Holiday Cheer. I chalk it up to just moving and we've yet to find our groove. Maybe it's in one of those boxes we haven't unpacked. So... I am trying to do the things I usually do with the thought "if the body is moving the heart will follow". My friend Julie starting baking yesterday as a way to fill the time as she anxiously waited for her boys to arrive from the States, so I thought I would bake along with her. And so today, since the house is decorated, the candles are burning, and theres a nip in the air, I baked cookies to conjure up the spirit of Christmas past.

In the late 90's I purchased Rose's Christmas Cookies. It has become my Christmas Cookie Bible. I have literally made every single cookie in that book, cover to cover. I did stop myself though at the over the top excess that is a gingerbread replica of the Notre Dame Cathedral. You have to have boundaries people.

I am a huge fan of cookbooks by Rose Levy Beranbaum. Her recipes are PRECISE, foolproof, and utterly delicious. They run the gamut from traditional favorites to cookies that require special equipment and skill. Her cookbooks are like taking a masterclass on baking, you'll learn a lot but you'll also have fun along the way.

This year I only made one from her cookbook, the rest were cookies that I had bookmarked while browsing around the internet.

From left to right: Rose's Crescents, Chocolate Chip Cherry Drops,

Fudge Drops, Halva Flapjacks, and Spiced Molasses Cookies.

Buckle your seatbelt kids, here we go....

To start, Fudge Drops. They are the bites of heaven smack dab in the middle of the platter above. If you closed your eyes you would think you were eating a fudgy brownie.

Fudge Drops

from King Arthurs Flour

8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate

3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) butter

1 cup (7 1/4 ounces) sugar 

3 large eggs 

1 teaspoon espresso powder 

1 teaspoon vanilla 

1 cup (4 1/4 ounces) All-Purpose Flour 

¼ teaspoon baking powder 

¼ teaspoon salt 

1 cup (6 ounces) chocolate chips, optional

In a double boiler, or in the microwave, gently melt together the chocolate and butter. To avoid heating the chocolate too much and possibly burning it, the best method is to heat till the butter is melted and the chocolate has partially melted, then remove from the heat. Stir till all the chocolate melts.  In a separate bowl, beat together the sugar and eggs till they're thoroughly combined. Add the hot melted chocolate, then stir in the remaining ingredients, including the chocolate chips, if you're using them. Refrigerate the batter-like dough for 1 hour, to make it easier to handle.  Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets, three if you have them.  Drop the cookie dough by tablespoonful’s (about the size of a small ping pong ball) onto the prepared baking sheets. A tablespoon cookie scoop makes this task extremely simple. Leave about 2" between the dough balls, as they'll spread as they bake.  Bake the cookies for 11 to 12 minutes, until their tops are shiny and cracked. They won't crack until the very end, so keep a close eye on them; when they're cracked all the way across the top surface, they're just about done. The point is, you want these baked all the way through, but just barely; additional baking will make them crisp rather than chewy. Remove the cookies from the oven, and top each with a kiss-shaped chocolate, a nonpareil, or a bittersweet chocolate wafer, if desired. Wait 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack to cool.  

Next, Rose's Crescents. They can be a bit fiddly and fragile but the almonds give them a wonderful texture and the cinnamon sugar topping is a nice change of pace from the usual coating of confectioners sugar. I would buy the Christmas Cookie book for this recipe alone. (But now you don't have to because I posted it below)

Rose’s Crescents

From Roses's Christmas Cookies

2/3 cup blanched sliced almonds

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup unsalted butter

1 2/3 cup all purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

Topping:

½ cup superfine sugar

½ teaspoon cinnamon

In a food processor with the metal blade, process the almonds and sugar until the almonds are ground very finely.

Cut the butter into a few pieces and add it with the motor running. Process until smooth and creamy. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Add the flour and sprinkle the salt on top. Pulse in just until the flour is incorporated.

Scrape the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, press itinto a thick disc, wrap it tightly and refrigerate for 2 hours. Stir together the topping ingredients and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Divide the dough into 8 portions. Work with 1 section at a time, keeping the remainder of the dough refrigerated. Knead the dough between floured hands until malleable. Pinch off a portion of the dough and roll it into a ¾ inch round ball. On a lightly floured counter, roll each ball into a cylinder about 3 inches long. Form each cylinder into a crescent shape and place on the cookies sheet.

Bake for 14-16 minutes or until set but not brown. Cool the cookies on the sheets for 10 minutes. While they are still warm lift them from the cookie sheet with a small spatula and gently roll them one at a time in the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Finish cooling on wire racks. Store in an airtight container.

Chocolate Chip Cherry Drops, because I have been told that chocolate and cherry should play together more often. This is my absolute favorite recipe for Chocolate Chip cookies and I just added 1/2 cup of chopped dried Montmorency cherries.

Chocolate Chip Cherry Drops

Adapted from Cooks Illustrated

Makes about 18 large cookies.

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm 

1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar 

1/2 cup granulated sugar 

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

1-1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

½ cup chopped dried Montmorency cherries

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray.

Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.

With an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in the chips and dried cherries.

Roll a scant 1/4 cup of the dough into a ball. Place the formed dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 1/2 inches apart.

Bake until the cookies are light golden grown and the outer edges start to harden yet the centers are still soft and puffy, 8-12 minutes. Cool the cookies on the sheets. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets with a side metal spatula.

The next cookie was a gamble, but I am pleased with how it turned out. I have a friend who loves Halva, a sesame paste candy, and I had wanted to make a cookie that featured either Halva or the deep sesame taste of Halva. My attempts were epic fails and then I found this recipe. Halva Flapjacks, they are really rich, with a fudge like texture from the Tahini paste. Flapjacks are oat based bar cookies popular in the UK. You will need a scale, and might need to do some math, but don't be afraid, these will be worth your efforts.

Halva Flapjacks

Recipe by Dan Lepard

Tahini has a curious effect when warmed, because it turns sugar and syrup to a fudge-like state. This means that with these oat flapjacks, you can reduce the butter content considerably and still end up with a firm fudge consistency after baking.

100g unsalted butter 

75g brown sugar 

200g sweetened condensed milk 

75g tahini 

50g honey 

100g chopped dried dates or figs (I used dried cranberries) 

100g chopped walnuts 

25g sesame seeds 

175g-225g rolled oats

Heat the butter, brown sugar and condensed milk in a saucepan until hot and the sugar dissolved, then remove from the heat and stir in first the tahini and honey, and then the dried fruit, nuts and sesame seeds. Now stir in enough rolled oats until the mixture just holds its shape – the more oats you add to the mix, the firmer the finished flapjack will be.

Line a 20cm or 25cm square cake tin (or similar) with buttered foil and pack the flapjack mixture into the base. Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan-assisted)/350F/gas mark 4 and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the flapjack is just beginning to turn golden on top. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

When warm, cut the flapjack into squares and serve, or store in an airtight container.

And finally....Spiced Molasses Ginger Cookies. The scent of warm spices, a lovely chewy texture, the occasional heat from a bite of crystallized ginger. They remind me of my childhood Christmases. I chilled the dough and wished I hadn't as I like them to spread a bit more.

Spiced Molasses Ginger Cookies

From Epicurious

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup finely chopped crystallized ginger

1 cup butter at room temperature

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

¼ cup dark molasses

sugar for rolling

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt. Stir in the crystallized ginger and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer cream together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes. Add the egg and molasses and mix well to combine.

On low speed add the flour mixture. Scrape down bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Roll the dough into balls roughly the size of walnuts. Roll the dough in sugar to heavily coat and then place on baking sheet.

Bake 10 minutes.

Yay me! That was a fast year.

2011-12-10T13:11:00.000-08:00

I've been told by a certain someone in my house that the word Blogiversary is dorky. The thought that I would actually make a cake to celebrate said event qualifies as some sort of affliction that may require an intervention. There were whispers to their friends that they weren't sure why I was making a cake. My youngest tried to pass it off as a cake for her half birthday. Right.......Oh how they changed their tune once it was all frosted and set out on the counter.

I should have just made them watch me eat it, but you know, it was a big cake.

One year ago I started my blog. No scratch that, 3 years ago I started my blog, it was only 1 year ago that I actually wrote something. Now THAT is dorky.

When I started this blog I was certain that only my darling husband and my mom would read it. My inner middle school girl certainly thought this was a bad idea. However, it's been fun. I've met some interesting people (if you can call exchanging comments or emails really meeting), and I challenged myself to do something that I wasn't entirely comfortable with. I found that writing for yourself is much more fun than writing when it is assigned or part of your job. I'm mean what would you rather write about, this Buttermilk Vanilla Layer Cake or about the epidemiology of tuberculosis among South East Asians. I'll leave that for you to decide.

So a big thank you to those of you who are not related to me who stop by here, and an even bigger thank you to my husband who likes to push me into new adventures! I love you and I ate your piece of cake.

This cake is a very old fashioned yellow cake. The cake is soft and moist with a tender crumb but it holds up well to a fudgy frosting. I think it's the perfect thing to make for a birthday or really any dorky event that comes up.

Rich Yellow Buttermilk Cake with Fudge Frosting

For the cake:
4 tablespoons of unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
6 large eggs yolks at room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
3 cups cake flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
For the frosting:
1 1/2 pounds semi-sweet chocolate chopped fine
2 cups heavy cream
8 tablespoons butter cut into small pieces
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour 2, 9 inch round baking pans.

Make the cake layers:
In the bowl of a stand mixer cream together the butter, oil, and sugar for 5 minutes on medium speed. Add the egg yolks 2 at a time beating for 20 seconds after each addition. Stir in the vanilla and then scrape down the bowl.
In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in thirds alternating with the buttermilk. Begin and end with the dry ingredients, completely incorporate the flour after each addition. Scrape down the bowl and divide the batter evenly between the 2 prepared cake pans.
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes, then turn the layers out onto wire racks to cool completely.
Make the Fudge Frosting:
Place the chopped chocolate in a large heatproof bowl, set aside.
In a heavy medium sized saucepan, heat the cream, butter, and sugar over medium high heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat to high and bring to a simmer. Immediately pour the cream mixture over the chocolate. Let stand for 2 minutes and then stir until smooth. Stir in the vanilla and then let the mixture cool for 30 minutes.
Set the bowl of frosting in a larger bowl of ice water (after it has cooled for 30 minutes). Beat the frosting using an electric mixer until the frosting thickens and becomes lighter in color. Be careful not to overbeat the frosting as it will make the mixture grainy. Finish by folding the frosting together with a wooden spoon.
Assemble the cake:
Place a cake layer on a serving platter, plate or pedestal. Using an offset spatula spread 1 cup of frosting over the top of the first layer. Top with the second layer. Spread 1 cup of frosting evenly over the top of the second layer. Use the remaining frosting to frost the sides. Decorate as desired.

It's here part 2

2011-12-06T00:15:00.000-08:00

If you've been following along you know that 6 months ago we packed up all of our belongings in Singapore for our move to Tunisia. Ok, to be truthful we didn't pack a thing. The school hired a moving company to pack everything, we just sort of watched. For the past several months our stuff has made the long voyage from the Straits of Malacca, through the Indian Ocean to the Arabian Sea and then I'm not really sure where it went, but eventually it arrived in Tunisia. Finally, last Wednesday afternoon, we were given the great news that our shipment would be delivered to our house the next morning. That in and of itself is a glorious sentence to write. Witnessing the arrival of our container in front of our house was nothing short of rainbows, unicorns, and Christmas all rolled into one ridiculously happy morning.

The driver of this rig is my hero.

He moved this giant container down our tiny lane like a boss!

See that large red shrub?

That is our neighbors Poinsettia tree.

A tree! Gorgeous!

The fastest, nicest, dare I say, BEST movers we've ever worked with!

Part of the 168 boxes that needed to be unpacked.

Not bad for an afternoons work.

If you've never had the pleasure of having a moving company handle your move, I'm sorry. I hate moving so I am quite happy to have someone do all the packing for me. You do need to be watchful though or you'll end up with some strange things being packed that you really don't want, like your garbage for instance. I had a friend who wasn't watching as her kitchen was being packed and the movers just wrapped up her full garbage can. It sat in a cargo container in the Saudi Arabian heat for months until it was delivered to her new home.

I don't think that was a very fun discovery to make.

We had a few surprises, nothing smelly thank goodness. Apparently we owned 5 cans of silly string and a slinky which was packed and shipped halfway around the world. Hmmm. I could also tell that I had decision fatigue at a certain point in the move. How else can you explain a box filled with used candles, half full bottles of nail polish, and game pieces that belong to a game we no longer own.

We got a lot done this weekend, nearly every box is empty and we are just now trying to organize the house. This is the part that I love and loathe. I love it because this is when the house really starts to feel like a home. We have art work that we picked out when we were on holiday in Vietnam, the girls Christmas stockings to hang, our own mattresses to sleep on. I loathe it because I put things away in very clever places and then never remember where that might be and, at some point I become overwhelmed and think it would be easier to set the remaining unpacked boxes on fire and give them a Viking funeral.

Sunday felt like a day to celebrate! I had purchased a gorgeous Brioche at my favorite boulangerie on Saturday with the idea that I would make French Toast for breakfast Sunday morning. I decided to make a baked French Toast, sort of like a bread pudding. Actually, exactly like a bread pudding except not as sweet. Before baking it, I slathered a mixture of melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon over the top. This baked up beautifully, it was souffle like and the brown sugar topping was very crisp in places like the top of a creme brulee with the added bonus of little pools of buttery caramel dotted throughout.

Creme Brulee Baked French Toast

Creme Brulee Baked French Toast

1 large Brioche, approximately 11/2-2 pounds cut into 1 inch pieces

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

8 eggs

3 cups half and half

pinch of salt

1 cup of butter

1 cup of dark brown sugar

2 tablespoon of corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 cup of chopped pecans

maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350 F. Place all the bread in a large bowl. In a medium size mixing bowl mix together until well blended the sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract, eggs, half and half and a pinch of salt. Gently stir together and set aside for 2 hours or overnight. This allows the bread to soak up all the custard. When you are ready to bake the French toast, spoon the bread mixture evenly into a greased 9X13 inch baking dish.

In a small saucepan melt the butter, over medium high heat, with the brown sugar, corn syrup, and cinnamon. Cook this mixture until the butter and sugar are melted together and the sugar is no longer grainy, about 5-8 minutes. Carefully pour this evenly over the top of the bread mixture. Sprinkle with the pecans and bake for 30 minutes or until puffed and lightly browned.

Serve with maple syrup.

Its here!

2011-11-30T22:38:00.000-08:00

6 months ago my house in Singapore looked like this

And today, after a long ocean voyage, numerous customs checks, scans, and stamps, and a few weeks sitting on a North African dock, we will be reunited with all our "stuff".

I'm not even sure what we packed, but I do know that there is a new block of knives, my food processor, and tongs in there somewhere.

Even though today means trying to speak to the movers in a mixture of pantomime and French (really Franglish), unpacking a myriad of boxes, and hopefully finding a few extra ounces of patience and grace I am really, really, really excited!

Full of Thanks

2011-11-25T01:57:00.000-08:00

We have had a busy week. Last weekend we went to Barcelona (I know, poor me) to watch our daughter compete in a volleyball tournament. We only saw a few snippets of the city, but oh, I fell hard for Barcelona. I need to find a way to get back there soon.

Of all the things one could take photos of in Barcelona this was my favorite. The changing colors of the leaves. I was reveling in my love for Autumn, when I realized we are nearing the end of November which I guess technically qualifies as winter.

I don't know about that though, the skies were impossibly blue, the air crisp but not so cold that you needed to bundle up, and by mid-day you could ditch the jacket if you were walking briskly.

After watching volleyball all day we would head to Las Ramblas, which is a pedestrian mall downtown. The street is flanked by high end retail, tapas bars, gelato stands, souvenir shops, and La Boqueria market. The market was beautiful and you can stroll through all the produce stands while sipping sangria (in a to go cup with straw mind you) and nibbling on a freshly made calzone.

We returned home to a short sprint of a work week leading to Thanksgiving weekend. I really love Thanksgiving, and enjoy filling our house with friends and family, sharing a meal together, and also sharing what we are thankful for. This year we spent the evening with some new friends who also moved to Tunisia this year. We shared stories of our family's holiday traditions, talked about life, and laughed a lot.

The past few months have been filled with many new experiences, the pendulum has swung from the maddening to the exhilarating (and back and forth a few times) I realized during one maddening episode that I can be mad and let my thoughts run to the negative, OR I could be thankful. Sometimes being thankful is hard. One day the only thing I could think of to be thankful for was the fact that I liked the scent of my dish washing liquid. That was a bad day.

Today though, I am full of thanks. I am thankful for my husband, his eternal optimism and sunny personality makes our days brighter. My daughters who are so beautiful, witty, and kind. My family who love us and whose presence I miss so much. Our friends both near and far who we have travelled life with.

I am thankful!

Now, what to do with that leftover turkey? I'm planning to make soup from the leftover carcass. David Tanis writes the City Kitchen articles in the New York Times and he has a recent article on what to do with Thanksgiving leftovers besides the usual sandwiches and casseroles. He suggests this soup that is fragrant with lime, warm with chilies and has the earthiness of corn tortillas. I'm in.

Turkey Soup With Lime and Chile

Time: About 1 hour

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup diced onion

1 cup diced celery

1 cup diced carrot

1/2 teaspoon cumin seed

1/2 teaspoon coriander seed

1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns

6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

1 cinnamon stick, 2 inches long

Cayenne

2 teaspoons salt, or to taste

8 cups unsalted turkey or chicken broth

Vegetable oil for frying

4 corn tortillas, at least a day old, cut in 1/2-inch strips

4 to 6 cups cooked turkey meat, shredded

1 or 2 firm-ripe avocados

6 scallions, chopped

2 jalapeños, thinly sliced

1 small bunch cilantro, leaves and tender stems, roughly chopped

Lime wedges.

1. Heat vegetable oil in a heavy-bottomed soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery and carrot and let soften, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.

2. Toast the cumin, coriander and peppercorns in a small dry skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 1 minute, then grind in a spice mill or mortar. Add the ground spices to the pot, along with the garlic, cinnamon, a pinch of cayenne and salt.

3. Add the broth and bring to a boil, then reduce to a brisk simmer. Cook for 15 minutes, then taste for salt and adjust. Keep hot, covered, over very low heat.

4. Pour vegetable oil to a depth of 1/2 inch into a wide skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot and looks wavy, add the tortilla strips and fry until barely colored, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove with tongs and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle lightly with salt. (The oil may be strained and saved for future frying.)

5. In a medium saucepan, heat the shredded turkey meat with a little of the hot soup. Divide the meat among 4 to 6 soup bowls and add a few slices of avocado to each. Ladle about 1 cup soup into each bowl, then garnish with tortilla strips, scallions, jalapeño slices, chopped cilantro and a generous squeeze of lime juice.

Yield: 4 to 6 large servings.