Practice, practice, practice.

That’s what your mother always used to tell you.  Well, I’ve been practicing a lot of things lately. Going through transitions in life tends to make me practice things—patience, making bread, design, yoga.  Sometimes, when things aren’t going just the right way, that little voice in your head starts creeping in saying “Hey you! You don’t know what you’re doing! You should be doubting yourself right now.”  But recently, I find myself taking a deep breath and talking back to that little voice. “Well, you know what? I’m just practicing.”

I have recently run across lovely reminders from here and there of practicing, for practice sake, not in search of perfection.  I often need reminded of this. I am just gathering, sharing, and learning about the current, the now.

When you practice, you realize you need to learn from those who already know. Today, we are thankful for our mothers because they are the ones that know.  They have practiced patience, kindness, and love.  They have practiced coping with crises, standing tall for others, and accepting help when they need it most.  They became experts through many years of practice and are now coaches for all of us.  As a thanks to all our mothers, here’s something sweet for their special day. Thanks, Moms. Happy Mothers Day! 

Yogurt Panna Cotta

Because this recipe is so simple, the quality of the ingredients makes all the difference! For our panna cotta, we used Crescent Ridge milk from Sharon, Massachusetts and the light and flavorful Pepperbush Honey from our friends at 13 Colonies Apiary in North Dighton, Massachusetts.  Many thanks to these fantastic local makers!

Barely adapted from the extremely talented Smitten Kitchen. Thankfully, this lady does a lot of practicing, and we get to enjoy the finished result of amazing recipes. To see instructions on making this in a dish to unmold, please see her recipe.

makes 7 individual servings

Place water in a small bowl. Stir in gelatin and set aside until the gelatin softens, about 15 minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk the yogurt and ¾ cup of milk and ¼ cup of cream. In a small saucepan, bring remaining ¾ cup of milk, ¼ cup of cream, and sugar to a simmer. Stir in water-gelatin mixture (it will dissolve immediately) and remove from heat. Whisk this mixture into the yogurt mixture, then stir in lemon juice at the end. Ladle the mixture into small cups and chill in fridge for at least 2 hours. It’s best to do this the night before you need it, but it also tastes great after 2 hours, too.

Right before you serve the panna cotta, drizzle it with honey and sprinkle it with almonds. Don’t put the honey on long before because it changes the texture of panna cotta!

Do ahead: Panna cottas can be made two days ahead. Keep refrigerated.

We are really forcing spring around here. It’s the kind of forcing that happens in the mornings, right when you wake up, sun shining in the windows and birds chirping.  It’s Spring! You throw open the windows for the fresh air and breathe in.  You pile on layers of sweaters and sip your tea, shivering. But ten minutes later, you wimp out and regrettably shut the windows because it’s still only 50 degrees no matter how much you want it not to be.

Hopefully this week is the last of it, but we are still in this half-way stage of spring. On one hand, we want our drinks to be fresh and light, like the gin mint lemonade cocktail we are hooked on. On the other hand, when the sun goes down, we still crave the comfort food of winter. And this week especially, in our beautiful city of Boston, we need a lot of comfort.  The ultimate comfort food for me is a grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  It brings back lovely memories of my dad cooking this sandwich for my brother and me.  So go grab your skillet and some friends, and share some comfort food with the people you love.

Grilled Peanut Butter & Jelly

You can make this on any bread, but homemade would be the best! We use crunchy, unsalted peanut butter, but it tastes best with whichever kind is your favorite. My all-time favorite “eat the whole jar with a spoon” jelly is Trader Joe’s Cherry Preserves. 

Makes 1 great sandwich

Preheat a cast-iron skillet of low-medium heat. Spread the peanut butter on one slice of bread and the jelly on the other. Put the two slices together to make the sandwich.  Drop the butter in the skillet. Once melted, put the sandwich in the skillet and let it grill for about 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown and toasted.  Carefully remove the sandwich and cut in half. Serve and enjoy immediately!

What is your favorite comfort food? Do you usually enjoy making it or does it always taste better when someone else makes it for you? We’d love to hear your thoughts and recipes!

If you’d like to add more comfort to people’s lives, you can donate to the One Fund Boston to help those affected by the tragic events this week. 

Last week, we were invited to our friend’s house for his annual Seder dinner. Although this was only my third Seder dinner, it has become something I look forward to every spring. I don’t know many of the stories or the symbolism in the religion, but I love how the meal is filled with rituals that are designed to bring people together.

At the Seder, we all took turns reading from the Haggadah, while big bowls of fresh salads tempted us. Some people knew the prayers, some people didn’t. Often I felt a little awkward because of my ignorance, but this is exactly the intention of a ritual meal.  It brings you out of the patterns of everyday life, makes you feel slightly uncomfortable, and creates a common experience between you and your neighbors.

I revel in the reading, the rhythm of everyone’s voices, and the slowness of the meal.  I hope the details of this rich tradition are not lost in the hustle and bustle of our busy lives.  It is such a nice event that brings strangers and friends together and makes them feel connected to something larger than themselves.

Do you know of other ritual meals that focus on the intersection of storytelling and food?  Are they religious or based on life stages? Or have you created a unique ritual meal with your family? I would love to hear your stories and thoughts about these ritual meals in our culture today. Until I hear from you, here’s a recipe for the delicious treats that concluded our wonderful Seder celebration!

Chocolate Covered Cranberry Coconut Macaroons

Slightly adapted from The New Best Recipe  (an amazing cookbook!)

Makes about 36 macaroons

Adjust the oven racks to the upper and lower-middle positions and preheat the oven to 375°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk together the cream of coconut, corn syrup, egg whites, vanilla, and salt in a medium bowl.  Combine the unsweetened and the sweetened coconut in a large bowl, breaking up the chunks with your fingers.  Pour the liquid ingredients into the coconut and mix with a rubber spatula until evenly moistened.  Mix in the chopped cranberries until evenly distributed.

Drop heaping tablespoons of batter 1 inch apart onto the prepared sheets.  Form the macaroons into loose haystacks, ensuring that all are the same size. Bake until cookies are lightly golden brown, about 15 mins, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom hallway through the baking time.  Cool the macaroons on the baking sheets until slightly set, about 2 minutes. Remove to a wire rack or aluminum foil with a spatula. Let cool for at least 30 minutes.

Line the 2 baking sheets with new pieces of parchment paper.  Chop the chocolate and melt 8 oz of it in a small heatproof bowl set over a small pot of almost-simmering water, stirring once or twice, until smooth.  Remove from heat and stir in the remaining 2 oz of chocolate until smooth.

When adding the chocolate, you can choose to do just the bottoms or half like the ones pictured.  Carefully dip the macaroons in the chocolate, taking care not to let them break. If they continue to break, just use a spoon or a small spatula to spread the chocolate on.  Place the macaroon on the prepared sheet. Refrigerate until the chocolate sets, about 15 minutes. Store in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature for serving.

Thank you, Dave, for an amazing meal and for sharing your traditions with us!

In our house, we tend to go in phases with our meals. Sometimes, it’s because of the season, like when we are surrounded by baskets and baskets of squash. Other times, it’s because we found a recipe that we just can’t get enough of. Often these phases get intrinsically linked in my mind to the feeling and place where we cooked that recipe. Making that meal again makes all of those memories rush back, bringing smiles or sadness and a bucket full of nostalgia.

This recipe is exactly one of these meals. I used to make this this stack of veggies topped with a perfectly cooked fried egg in my tiny apartment in Cincinnati. I savored each bite while I sat at my desk overlooking the park, planning the menu for the next big ritual dinner. When cooking for myself, I don’t like to prepare meat, so I always reverted back to eggs and veggies for an easy protein. This dish was the perfect combination of fancy and easy, flavorful and healthy.  

Now, as I spend hours working on my portfolio, looking at all the work I created last year, I crave this meal again. Magically, maybe some of the creative energy of that time came from the crispy kale. Maybe the idea for an installation came while enjoying the buttery baked sweet potatoes. Maybe, just maybe, a little bit of my strength came from the spiced black beans.

Today in a new city and a new phase, I start to make this recipe again, but this time I make it for other people. As I layer all of the ingredients, there is a special meaning for me, but now, I’m helping to create a new memory for them.

Sweet Potato Pile

As the first recipe post of 2013 (I know, I know, but we’ve been busy!), we have a simple recipe, inspired by a recipe by the one and only Sprouted Kitchen.

Makes 2 hearty portions

Preheat the oven to 400°F, then poke some holes in the sweet potatoes and put them on the middle rack. (A piece of aluminum foil underneath helps to catch the juices.) Bake these for about 45 minutes to an hour or until a fork pierces them easily.  To save time, you can also wrap the sweet potatoes in plastic wrap and microwave them instead!

After cooking the potatoes for 45 minutes, heat a cast iron skillet on medium heat. Add a glug of olive oil and throw in the kale with ½ teaspoon of smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. Sauté the kale for about five minutes or until slightly browned. Remove the kale and set aside.

Leave the heat the same and add a little more olive oil to the skillet.  Carefully crack the egg open onto the skillet. Sprinkle on salt and pepper and fry for about five minutes or to your preferred consistency.  Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, mix the can of beans with the rest of the spices. (You’ll have leftover beans for your breakfast eggs!)

When the potatoes are done cooking, carefully remove them from the oven and cut them down the middle so they open like a book.  Put a little dab of butter on each side. Now pour on a heaping spoonful of black beans, followed by ½ of the kale, and drop some tomatoes all around.  Finally, remove the egg from the skillet and put it right on the top! Serve immediately!

Eight months ago today we were hanging string balls in the barn, putting the finishing touches on the grill, and stringing twinkly lights to the tent. We checked things off our list and added even more things we forgot, all while trying to enjoy the moment. Then, the big day finally arrived. Our wedding day continues to grow richer and richer with new stories from friends and printed photographs on the wall. Now, this film, composed and edited by my brother, brings even more details and memories to life.

The passion and dedication we all had toward the wedding brings tears of joy, and the insanely amazing party that ensued makes us laugh out loud. It also reminds us not only how fortunate we are to have each other, but also how incredibly lucky and thankful we are for all of YOU. Enjoy, and feel free to kick off your shoes and dance along. We certainly will.

Thank you, Mac, for your beautiful craftsmanship and dedication in making this for us. We will cherish it. And a huge thank you to magnificent trio—Andy Licardi, Tyler Macko, and Bobby Corns—for their beautiful film and photography work and for being a blast to work with.

With tree branches sagging under the weight of the recent snowfalls, things look simple and beautiful. And this past year has been about just that. Although I tend to be quite nostalgic, I don’t reflect much at the end of years, trying to keep forward momentum. But this year was so rich with food, family, friends, and traveling, I want to remember every moment. While this year wasn’t always easy, the intention was still the same—simple and beautiful.

We have spent both momentous and commonplace time with our family and friends. We have shared meals that warmed our hearts and put smiles on our faces.  We have served 250 meals at our dinners, while introducing and meeting new friends. We have driven 22,000 miles around this diverse country, sometimes only concerned with the essentials: what we were going to eat that day and where were going to sleep.

We have also mourned the loss of many, reminding us to hug each other tighter and never take those precious moments together for granted.

We have made a new home together, taking care that every object tells a story or brings a smile to our face.  We have made a family of 2 together, creating our own traditions and rituals. We have picked each other up after the ever-present bumps in the road, while making ourselves laugh until our sides hurt.

For us, 2012 was the year of large celebrations—thesis dinners, our wedding, and themed dinner parties. We are so grateful and fortunate to have all of these memories and stories to tell. But the New Year will bring very different things for us—new opportunities and unknowns, intimate gatherings, and more time to walk in the snow. We raise our glass of bubbly to you, friends. Thank you for making it more than we could have ever imagined. Cheers to an unbelievable 2012! And cheers to a happy happy New Year!

As the days darkened and the end of year came near, we prepared to host our third and final dinner series meal. We planned and prepared, visited new grocery stores, and tried to make a meal that would help us usher in the coming winter. It has become kind of a tradition to include a winter meal in the dinner series ventures, and even though it seemed a bit of a departure from the topics of the previous two, it seemed like a good way to end the year!

We planned a menu of hearty dishes and fragrant drinks (recipe links below), and tried to create a warm atmosphere for our guests. But we wanted to remind them that winter was around, and so for the first course we asked everybody to join us outside at the park to eat soup! Somehow, being out in the cold made the rest of the dinner feel more intimate.  Once inside, we sat around the table with candlelight as our only light source. After eating a delicious bean and leek cassoulet with fresh greens, we gave everyone a parchment present with hake and vegetables inside. Finally, for dessert, we passed around small cups of homemade eggnog and chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons.

The meal was our least curated event, apart from the food and some small decorations; we didn’t have a set topic or obvious theme. It was a simple meal, but it was full of warmth and liveliness. As we sat with old friends around the table along with some new ones, we reminded ourselves of the reasons we hold these events; to share with each other, make new friends, and create a family around the table.

Rosemary Gin Fizz

From A Cup of Jo

A seasonal cocktail that’s easy to make and wonderful to drink! We tripled this recipe for cocktails for 13 people, and we didn’t have any trouble finishing it. The sprig of rosemary in the glass accentuates the wintery feeling of the drink!

Homemade Eggnog

From the NYTimes Mag

Although the store-bought kind is delicious, this homemade eggnog will be a unique treat for dessert. Fresh nutmeg is essential to this frothy drink! Try to find it in your local spice shop where you can just buy a couple pieces at a time.

The five senses—they are ever-present, enhancing our lives, and delighting our imagination. But we don’t always pay attention to what they are telling us.  In the discussion during the first Dinner in the Dark, my brother said “It’s surprising how your experience of something can be enhanced by losing a sense that you thought made that experience better. But in the end, not having it can make it better.”

For this Soundscape dinner, we installed about 2000 styrofoam cups on the ceiling of our dining room, trying to dampen the harsh echoes of past meals. We curated a playlist (take a listen here!) that would not detract from the food, but would enhance the listening experience. But most importantly, we crafted the menu to provide a range of sounds and textures.

Soundscape Menu

We provided earplugs at the table so that you could choose when to remove your hearing. People chose to listen in to certain conversations by using only one earplug or entire sections of the table going quiet.  Others were concerned about the social norms engaging with people at a meal.  By putting in the earplugs, you could listen to yourself eat. While isolating yourself, each food made its own unique noise—sometimes enhancing the texture, sometimes detracting. The mussels sounded like they were exploding; while the risotto was compared to listening to someone eat a banana.

The guests suggested that the meal should include more rules and structured events so that everyone could experience the full range of the soundscape meal. So we will continue to push ourselves to create more experiential, ritual meals that aren’t your everyday dinner party. Next week, another winter meal, the last meal of our three part series and our last of 2012!

Meringues with Pear, Chocolate, and Hazelnuts

Adapted from Jamie Oliver

Coming from a person that isn’t great at following recipe instructions, please follow these carefully!  This recipe is really easy to make ahead and then assemble right before dessert. Jamie Oliver’s book Cook with Jamie has a great section specifically on meringues. Need a good holiday present for the cook in your life? This book is a winner.

Click here to read the rest of the recipe.

As winter creeps back once again, it always surprises us with its intense darkness. The sun fades away now around 4:30pm, if it even comes out at all during the day. Much of our time now is spent with darkness outside the window, reminding us how precious the light really is.

A couple weekends ago, we had another Dinner in the Dark meal to kick off a three part dinner series in our home. We wanted an opportunity to keep thinking in terms of food and design, while sharing these experiences with others. In the hours right before everyone arrived, we cooked food and added another table to the dining room, but I still questioned the dynamics of the whole meal. Many of the guests were new to each other and some were even new to me. Then I reminded myself that that is the beauty of the dinner in the dark. Everyone is a stranger.

We lit one single candle while the guests arrived and snacked on appetizers so that everyone could get a fuzzy glimpse of the other people’s faces. For the meal, we blew out the candle and led everyone to the dining room where the food was waiting on the plates.  Everyone dove headfirst into the meal, discussing the ingredients and getting excited when they discovered a new flavor. When creating the menu, we intentionally shaped ingredients to not be easily recognizable. This allowed the flavor to come to the forefront, not the recognizable shape.  The darkness also let everyone linger over the table, relaxing and sipping invisible amounts of wine.

Because I had already created a Dinner in the Dark in the workshop, I expected the results in our home would be different. But instead, they had almost exactly the same effect on people. The space was not as unusual as the warehouse, but the guests were still focused on each other and the food—not the environment.

This weekend we had our second dinner entitled Soundscape. Stay tuned for a new post with lots of photos and maybe even some sound bites!

“…We are an American family.”

Images from inside Twelve Chairs in Fort Point, Boston

For some reason, these five words in the President’s powerful speech on Tuesday night really resonated with me. Maybe it’s because we have been traveling around the East Coast in the last two weeks, and our thoughts are with those who were affected by the storms. Maybe because all of this moving around, discovering new places, and meeting incredible people reminds me of our cross-country summer road trip. Maybe because that is what we are trying to do with our dinners—making people feel part of a larger whole.

Food has the incredible power to turn strangers into family. It can also remind you how precious the family we have is. But the range and variation of how this happens is as diverse as our country itself. Are there ritual meals in your life that join strangers and family? How do you bring people together around food?

In celebration of our American family, we have an autumn pancake recipe for you. The almighty pancake fills you with warmth and happiness, while being perfectly shareable and easy to make. But most importantly, they provide a time to join our American family together at the table. “Breakfast is ready!”

Pear Pancakes with Whiskey Maple Syrup

Add the pumpkin pie spice to the dry ingredient mixture. Mix until incorporated.

After pouring the pancake into the skillet, carefully place the pear slices on the pancake and push in a bit so that they sink into the batter.

While the pancakes are cooking, heat ½ cup maple syrup in the microwave for about 30 seconds, checking often so not to overflow. Mix in the whiskey until incorporated. Mix again before serving.

Sprinkle the chocolate over the cooked pancakes and top with syrup!