Christmas Time In Napa

Cakebread Cellars barrel rooms.

Hey, did you know I went to Napa for the weekend while Husband and I were visiting his parents in the Bay Area for Christmas? We had an absolutely fabulous time. As I observed to Husband on our drive home (he was lamenting that we were leaving so soon), Napa is a vacation spot where basically all your do is drink wine and eat really great food. It's accepted. And really, that's what Husband and I like to do when we're on vacation. When people ask how a trip was I tell them whether the food was good in that area. When people ask what we did, I tell them all about the great places we ate. For example, France? Amazing. In Paris we could fall out of our hotel and and find a bakery selling chocolate croissants for next to nothing that were the most amazing things we've ever tasted. In Normandy the food was heavy and rich without being heavy and rich, which is all I know how to describe it. Delicious and comforting! Our honeymoon in Hawaii? Great, amazing fish. Had to seriously scout out places to find a sliver of vegetable, and they usually cost up the butt if we did find any. Seriously. We ate at one place that had meat on one side of the menu and fish on the other. No sides, no salads, no fruit cup. After a few days of eating like this, I felt completely disgusting. So yeah, I'd say Napa is the ideal vacation spot for us! Especially since I am a self-admitted lout!

Anyhoo, we drove up Saturday afternoon, myself, Husband, his parents, and the dogs, and checked into our hotel: the Napa River Inn. Can't recommend this place enough. It was clean and quaint (and I don't mean that as a nice way of saying small). The staff was very friendly (the bell hop gave the dogs treats). We got adjoining rooms without having to ask, and we found in one of them a little dog welcoming package, including food bowls, treats, and a towel for the floor for each of the dogs. The rooms were spacious, and it was right in the center of town. You could walk anywhere. And let me tell you about the breakfast! There is a bakery right next door. It's amazing. When you walk in your room there is a card to fill out for your complimentary breakfast the next morning. You fill out what you want from 3 categories and what time you want it delivered to your door. The next morning I got a scone, a breakfast sandwich, and a fruit cup. Husband got the same, but paid a bit extra for a cinnamon bun instead of the scone. Image the hugest scones and cinnamon buns you've ever seen, and now double it. That's what we got. I ate the fruit cup, about 1/3 of the scone, a few bites of cinnamon bun, and half the breakfast sandwich and I felt like I would be stuffed for days. And it was so good I didn't want to stop eating it!

After we checked in, we were hungry, so we went straight to a winery I heard had a great deli (thanks for the tips, Kelly!). V. Sattui winery definitely had its good points and not so good points. The grounds were gorgeous and their large stone buildings were beautiful to look at. They had a ton of picnic tables outside, so there was plenty of room to sit and eat. Their deli and shop had some really great items, cheeses and meats that went on for days. Unfortunately, I was under the impression that they would actually make you a sandwich from all the breads, meats, and cheeses they sold. Not so. They have a ready-made food "deli", and that's it. You don't want mayo on your sandwich (I try not to touch the stuff)? I guess you just have to wipe it off. Even though you can buy your own bread, cheese, and meat and assemble it yourself, and even though they have the means to do it for you (a knife is really all that's needed), and even though they could probably make more money by charging you double, they refuse. I just couldn't get over the ridiculousness of that. That said, the already made food was quite good. We got some sandwiches, soups, and roasted vegetables and shared. Everything was tasty except the vegetables, which were still basically raw. I would certainly come back, bring my own knife, and make my own sandwiches. Next time. Oh, it was also insanely packed. Like it took 30 minutes just to get to our number to order the food, which is actually good because it took about that much time to find enough space between all the bodies of other people to even see the display case to find out what they have and decide what you want. I heard someone ask if they were always that busy, and the guy behind the counter responded that they were actually often even busier. How is that possible!? They also had an independent vendor giving away samples of fudge. It was so delicious we bought some.

V. Sattui. A good variety of wines to choose from, but I didn't much care for them. The Madeira had that cloyingly sweet taste I really don't care for.

While I would definitely come back for the deli, I would skip the wine tasting next time. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't that good, and from my perspective, there's no excuse to drink bad wine in Napa (or even not great wine). On purpose, anyway. I found the whites too sweet and the reds a bit too tannic for my taste. But I'm glad we went here first because it put us in the mood to find better wines to taste!

Next we stopped at Cakebread Cellars, a winery my friends recommended. They are by appointment only, but I called to schedule an appointment basically the day before, and actually ended up calling them 3 times to reschedule my appointment time that day, and they were super accommodating. I basically called them from V. Sattui and asked if we could change our time to the next closest so we could basically go straight there, and they said sure. We still had about 45 minutes to kill once we got there, so we took the dogs for a walk around the grounds.

Oh yeah, did I mention we had the dogs in tow? Well we weren't allowed to leave the dogs in the hotel rooms, so we threw them in the back of Husband's dad's car (it's a hatch back, so nice and roomy). They didn't much like being left alone while we went off drinking and gallivanting (ok, seriously blogger? Your spellcheck sucks balls. You can't tell that galevanting is a misspelling of gallivanting? Come on.) around, but they loved walking around the rich and fertile land, and contributing some of themselves to the wine-making process.

Yes, I took a picture of my dog peeing. He looked so cute! And ok, it looks like he's peeing on grape vines, but really he's peeing about half a foot from the main gravel path. It was more exciting when you didn't know, wasn't it?

Anyway, Cakebread was by far my favorite winery the whole trip. We got to the tasting room about 10 minutes before our appointment. I checked in and was told to wait off to the side for just a minute. After about 15-20 minutes I was getting a bit perturbed, as they were helping everyone who came in after me, but were totally ignoring me. Finally someone noticed me standing there looking pissed and asked me what was the deal. I may have had a bit of acid in my tone when I said I had no idea, I was told to wait just a minute and then was forgotten all about. I'm pretty sure that's why we ended up getting a private tasting, and everyone else was in big groups of about 10 people. Heh. Oops! But score for us!

The glasses never stayed filled for long. The wine was so good I couldn't stop drinking it!

The tastings are done in their barrel rooms, which was very intimate and fun. Our...wine pouring lady (??), she was awesome. She was very knowledgeable about the wines, and very talkative in general, in a good way, not in a shut up and pour me some wine kind of way. She was apparently trained as a chef, but decided she loved wine more and switched professions. She told us all about the wine varietals, grapes, growing regions, good years vs. bad years. We asked her questions, and she always had a great answer. I learned more about wine in that hour than I have in my 27 years on this earth. It was great. And the wine was amazing. Delicious. Expensive. We bought some. I wish we had bought more. I wish I would win the lottery tomorrow so I could build a house across the street and taste wine there every day. Yum!

After Cakebread we decided the dogs had been so well behaved, we took them to a dog-friendly winery I had found on dogfriendly.com (how awesome is that website!), Alpha Omega. I had never heard of this winery, so I wasn't expecting much besides a tasting room we could take the dogs to, but I was so pleasantly surprised! Their tasting room is modern and sleek with a lovely outdoor seating area and some seriously cool bathroom fixtures. I went in ahead to make sure they were really dog friendly and the guy told me "we're friendly if they are". Oh Theo and Rex are friendly all right! They loved the attention, and some people seemed to enjoy having the furry ones around to lighten the mood. And best of all, the wine was really gosh darn good! We bought a bottle of their rose and their cabernet, if I remember correctly. But it was rather pricey, and the tasting was rather short, only 4 wines (so basically on par with Cakebread). One woman who worked there gave Theo and Rex a ton of love and attention. We actually ended up seeing her in town the next morning with her own dogs, and she not only remembered us enough to come over and say hello, but she actually remember the dogs' names! How dog friendly is that? I would definitely come back, Theo in tow.

A small but enjoyable tasting menu

My one big regret on our trip to Napa was that we never made it to Silver Oak Cellars. We tried! Unfortunately, we lingered too long at the other wineries on Saturday, and by the time we drove up at 5:45, we discovered they had closed at 5:30. Boo! And when we went back first thing Sunday morning, we found that they were also closed on Sundays. Nooooo! Whyyyyy? I will definitely make it there next time.

After we got back to the hotel we played with the rugrats for a bit, and then headed next door to Celadon for dinner (thanks for the great recommendation again Kelly!). I was a bit befuddled by this one. First off, it was small and quiet, nice and intimate. There were other people there, but it wasn't busy or loud. The food was amazing. We all thoroughly enjoyed our meals. The pork belly buns were delicious (though Husband thought they were too fatty, which is I think what pork belly is supposed to be like. It was good fatty, not gag-reflex fatty.), the duck confit and spinach salad I was still dreaming about the next day. And the Moroccan inspired lamb was just...omg. So good. And I could not stop eating the couscous it came with off of Husband's plate. Seriously. But. But. The wine. Was bad. There were 4 of us, each of us got a different wine from the wine list. 2 of us even asked for suggestions. And every single one was crap. I was astounded. This is freaking Napa! How do you have a single bad wine on your wine list, let alone all 4 of them, if not all? It was completely disappointing, and kind of dampened the meal because we were so confounded. It'd say next time, I would definitely still eat there, but I would either bring my own wine and just pay the corkage fee, or drink water and have wine in my room after dinner.

The next day we had the most wonderful Sunday brunch at Redd, recommended by the same friends who recommended Cakebread Cellars, so we were excited to try it. It was fantastic! We got there kind of ridiculously early, so we decided to walk around the neighborhood with the dogs, which was a nice way to build up our appetites since we were still a bit full from the huge breakfast we got. We were still early, so the place was totally empty, but it filled up later. We tried the potstickers (excellent), diver scallops (worthy of a wet dream), and duck confit (always a winner). They also had some fun and delicious cocktails. It was a fabulous experience, I can't wait to do again next time I'm there. I would definitely go back for brunch, but I'll bet their dinner is even better.

We ended the trip with a stop at Opus 1 winery. We intended to end with Silver Oak, but well, you know how that turned out, and Opus 1 was nearby. This is some 'spensive wine. We're talking $200/bottle, so we didn't go with the intention of buying, but we thought it'd be fun to taste. At $35 for a single glass (a rather full half glass, not a tasting glass), it was a bit of a splurge, but when you're in Napa, you just gotta go for it. Once they pour you your wine they leave you to wander their massive castle grounds. We spent most of that time wondering why they have such a big building, but such a tiny tasting room. What are the other rooms for? It's not a hotel. Maybe events? Anyway, I thought it was kind of hilariously and charmingly over the top. Husband thought it was a bit intimidating, but I think he was mostly just intimidated by all the BMWs in the parking lot. We didn't have an appointment, but they weren't busy, and let us go right in. When you enter the big, ridiculous double doors there is a large sterile, marble-floored room with a single desk and the receptionist who does the appointments. That might have had something to do with the intimidation as well. The wine was, of course, amazing. I savored every bite. And with a bite or two of that fudge from V. Sattui we bought the previous day, it was sinfully good.

Opus 1 winery. When you approach the giant double doors, there is over the top opera music playing. I couldn't make this up.

All in all it was only a day and a half, but it was such a day and half. We had a truly great time, and I look forward to going back for a bit longer of a stay. I was actually a bit scared to go there and plan the whole thing. For some reason I found the whole thing rather intimidating, but once I got there it was so easy and laid back, I had a grand time. It's the kind of place you can just wander around and inevitably find someplace amazing, or at least familiar if that's what you want. If you go to Napa, I don' think you'll be disappointed.

Oh, and by chance we stopped at Oxbow Public Market, which was a short walk from the hotel. Holy moly was that place cool! If you're looking for something to take home from Napa, definitely check this place out. They have vendors of every sort selling everything you could want: cupcakes, spices, cheeses, olive oils, sauces, and of course, wine! We holed up at the cheese store and a very knowledgeable girl gave us some samples based on what we said we liked, and we came home with some great cheese and bread for an afternoon appetizer. Loved it!

Have you ever been to Napa? Where did you go? What did you think?

Our next vacation is coming up after Easter: Monterey. You can bet we'll be doing some wine tasting there too!

Dreary Winter Weather Calls For Comfort

I can't believe how far back I'm playing catchup with some of these recipes. I know there are some good recipes I'm missing out on posting about because I just can't remember making them, and I didn't get a picture to help me. I'll have to riffle through my mountain of printed recipes to see if I can find any gems. It definitely says nothing about the food if I can't remember it...just that I'm dumb and scatter-brained. Heh.

But one good thing comes from my delay, and that's the weather! When I first made this chicken and dumpling stew, courtesy of I made that!, it was cold and rainy and I was in dire need of some comfort food, and oh my did it ever fit the bill. I've actually made it twice already. But since then the weather warmed up and it looked as if our typical mild Southern California winter would pay us a visit. Nope. The East Coast is buried under snow, So Cal keeps getting hit with much needed rain, and six more weeks of winter are upon us. So it looks like the comfort food is still appropriate, no matter what the bright summer produce from Chile tries to convince me of otherwise.

I used chicken breasts (bone in) instead of thighs because I have an irrational aversion to chicken fat. I think it stems from my grandmother force feeding me KFC when I was a kid. Oh, and the chicken thighs they sell at the store are really fatty, if you didn't get the correlation there. I also punched up the vegetables a bit by adding carrots, celery, and frozen green beans, in addition to the peas called for. I also used 1% instead of whole milk. But otherwise I followed to recipe to a T, and it was delicious! It's creamy without being heavy, and the thyme, tarragon, and bay provide some great flavors. And the dumplings...oh the dumplings!

First off, I had never made chicken and dumplings before. So when I read the recipe I was a bit confused. I was supposed to drop the batter into the stew? No way! I closed my eyes, dropped the batter in, covered the pot and let it cook for the alloted time, and when I took the cover off, I was greeting by these huge, fluffy bits of heaven. Moist on the outside, dry and biscuity on the inside, and a great companion to the chicken pot pie flavors of the stew. Oh man, this recipe is definitely a keeper.

Recipe: Roasted Tomato And Cauliflower Soup

Thank goodness I had the presence of mind to write down this recipe immediately after I made it because I cannot for the life of me remember making this soup. I mean, I remember roasting the tomatoes and eating it's deliciousness, but I don't remember the specifics. Heck, I forgot all about the cauliflower until I was uploading the photo to flickr! It's not that the soup wasn't wonderful. It was. I just have a problem with my memory. It's a hereditary thing. You should see my dad. I'm afraid it doesn't look good for me. But the first step in overcoming a problem is admitting you have one, right? I do. So I always write things down when I really want to remember them. So obviously, since I wrote this soup recipe down, I must have loved it! Which I did. I remember that.

I also remember that I am super proud of myself because I came up with this recipe all on my own! Ok, I am not the first person to roast a tomato before making a soup out of it. And I definitely read about doing just that eons ago. But I chose each ingredient myself and decided what to do with each ingredient myself. There was no recipe this was based on. It's 100% from me. Yay!

I love tomato soup. If the acidity from the tomatoes didn't send my heart into a burning rage I would eat it all the time, were it also not for that little thing called heavy cream. It's what makes tomato soup creamy and delicious. Without it, tomato soup is just not the same. Except I had this idea. What if I could make it thick and creamy without cream? Milk wouldn't do, too watery. Starchy potatoes are traditionally used to thicken soups, but I didn't want to replace cream with starch, and also, that would make it a totally different soup. And also, that just sounds weird. Then I remembered a few weeks prior I had roasted some cauliflower and pureed some of it so it was kind of a mashed potato consistency, but with a light as a feather and creamy taste. And I had an aha! moment. And my roasted tomato and cauliflower soup was born!

Don't do what I did and overdo it on the cayenne. It was all good because my husband loves spicy foods, and I do pretty well with them myself, but in the future I would make sure to add it in small amounts. A little goes a long way. The same goes for the garlic. I love garlic. Can't get enough. Husband loves it so much he can't even taste it in food anymore unless it's so overpowering it'll make your eyes water. Seriously, he's crazy. Anyway, I put the whole head of roasted garlic in. A head sounds like a lot but when you roast the garlic, the flavor actually mellows out and sweetens, so it's ok to add more than you would raw. That said, you still might not want the whole head. Maybe try just half and add more if you think you can handle it. And if you're like me, roast 2 heads, put one in the soup, and use the second to spread over some toast to eat while you're making the soup. Nom nom nom! Garrrrrrlic!

Roasted Tomato and Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients:

3lb roma tomatoes

1 small head cauliflower

1 head garlic

1 medium onion, chopped

2 shallots, chopped

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (start with 1/8 tsp if you're very sensitive to heat)

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1 TB butter

1 TB flour

2 cups white wine (or broth)

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Half the tomatoes, lengthwise. Chop the cauliflower into florets. Arrange tomatoes, halved side up, and cauliflower in a roasting pan (I split the tomatoes into one roasting pan and the cauliflower in another, as the tomatoes hog all the room). Drizzle the tops of the tomatoes with olive oil, and sprinkle a little salt and pepper over each one. Do the same with the cauliflower, then toss to coat. Chop the top off of the garlic head, drizzle with olive oil, and wrap tightly in aluminum foil. When the oven is ready, put the tomatoes, cauliflower, and garlic into the oven. Let them roast and do their thing for about an hour. After 30-40 minutes, give the cauliflower a toss for even browning. They might need to come out before the hour is up if they look done before then (I say they're done when they have a nice brown to them, but before they start to burn, obviously). Once the tomatoes are done and cooled, remove the peels (they should come right off, or at least, come off in just a few pieces), but be careful not to squeeze out their juices. We want those!
3. Once the stuff in the oven is finished, heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a dutch oven or big soup pot over medium-high heat (I used medium, but my stove runs very hot). Add the onion and shallots and cook until softened, about 7 minutes. Add the oregano, basil, cayenne, paprika, coriander, and salt and pepper. Stir and let cook for about 2 minutes. Clear a spot on the bottom of the pot and add the butter. When it is melted, add the flour, and gently combine them into a paste. Let this cook for a minute, then mix it all together. Add the roasted garlic by squeezing each clove to release the soft roasted goodness (only add as much garlic as you can handle). Add the wine (or stock if you're not a total lout like me) and deglaze (use a spoon to break up the cooked on delicious bits), let this mixture cook down for a few minutes.
4. Once mixture has simmered a bit, add the roasted tomatoes and cauliflower. Use a spoon to break up the tomatoes and bit and let this simmer together for a few more minutes. Then turn off the heat.
5. Using a blender, food processor, or my weapon of choice, an immersion blender, puree the mixture until it has reached your desired consistency. If you want a thinner soup, you could add some more broth to thin it out. I like it thicker, myself.

I served the soup with some cracked wheat sourdough grilled cheese sandwiches. It tasted like gourmet comfort food. My favorite.

See, this is the problem with posting my food when I've already finished eating it. Now I want some of this soup and I have none! I might have to make more this weekend...

PS: If you've noticed how awesome my pictures have been looking lately. Err...well the lighting of them, anyway. It's because of my new light box! My sister gave it to me for Christmas/Chanukah this year and I was so excited when I opened it! Ask Husband. Well, he was out of town at the time, but I was completely ridiculous over the phone when I told him all about it. It's one of those things that I have wanted ever since I knew what I light box was (so like 6 months ago, heh), but that I figured I would never own because it was far to frivolous to buy for myself. And this is why my sister is awesome. Because she is so thoughtful with her presents. It makes me feel like she really knows me. Love you, sis!

Anyway, enough with the gushy stuff, this light box is portable, and it comes with a fold-able translucent white screen with a backdrop in grey or blue (it's reversible). It also comes with the two lights you see, and a tripod. The tripod is one meant for a table top, so I haven't had a chance to use it much. I think the next step here is going to be a full sized tripod because man do my arms shake! Hehe. I couldn't tell you what the brand is because I was too busy ripping it open, and I've since thrown away the box, but I would guess you could just do a google search for portable light box and come up with something similar. I really like the screens because you can set the lights outside the box and it defuses the light nicely so you don't end up with weird looking shiny dishes. Ya know?

You know the best thing about it? I can take pictures when it's dark out without my pictures looking all yellow and icky! That's partly thanks to my learning a few things about my camera (you can set the white balance, who knew?), and partly because I have this great light box! Hooray!

Let's Talk Cookies

If you're still sticking with your New Year's resolution to eat healthier and be healthier...good for you! You've outlasted the "resolutioners" who frequented my complex's gym for a while. Unfortunately, you'll probably hate me for what I'm about to post. It's time I finally get around to telling you about the Christmas cookie tins I gave to my loved ones this year. Aren't you glad I put it off until now?

It was by no means my first time making Christmas cookies, but it was my first time making tins and giving them to people, rather than gobbling them up myself. Though, let's be honest, there was an embarrassing amount of gobbling on my part, regardless. It all came about because Husband's dad's boss, up until this last year, would make a cookie tin every year, and Husband always looked forward to it. Last year she decided to retire from the holiday cookie obligation, as it really is a ton of work. Husband, completely bummed out, suggested I try my hand at it...and well, that's really the only encouragement I need to bake at this point!

Let me tell you...trying to whittle down my long list of possible cookie candidates was an exhaustive process. I had a whole list going in Google documents, that was actually comprised of several sublists; highlighting was involved. I had subgroups of cookies, where I grouped them by type (molasses, gingerbread, sugar, shortbread, etc.), then I pasted links to all food blogs and other websites I read that had recipes of that type that looked good. And here's where you'll really think I'm crazy. I read through all those recipes, compared them to each other, and one by one eliminated them until I knew which recipe I wanted in each category. Oh man, it took forever. But it was fun to see the subtle differences in ingredient to come up with a similar end product! And you can start pretending you don't know me now, because yes, I fully admit to being a bit obsessive sometimes.

I know I tend to be over ambitious when it comes to cooking and baking. If you're coming over for brunch, I don't just make pancakes. I also bake up some spinach and eggs, make a fruit salad, bake some scones and biscuits, always with the intention that I'll whip up something for dessert, though I always run out of time. Heck, if I have enough notice I'll bake up a fresh loaf of Challah, and the night before make up some boozy baked French toast for baking the next day. So I knew I wouldn't have time to make every kind of cookie I wanted. I ended up just planning for every eventuality. I made sure I had enough ingredients to make everything I wanted. I had a million pounds of ap flour, 500 sticks of butter, pecans, almonds, extra jars of cinnamon. It was like a war zone in the kitchen. Then I prioritized my cookies. What did I definitely want in the tin, and what could I live without? Then it was time to bake! I ended up hoping for ten different kinds of cookies, but ended up with six. Not bad! Especially considering I didn't much consider how much the tins I bought would actually hold. But I'll get to that. For now, let's talk cookie.

• Chocolate peppermint cookies, courtesy of Martha Stewart. These are chocolate peppermint cookies with a white chocolate coating and a dusting of peppermint candy. They look like crap, but I swear they didn't before the white chocolate was involved. A word to the wise for those making these cookies: just do plain circles! These were supposed to be pretty stars, but well, the white chocolate coating didn't go so well. Have you ever worked with white chocolate? I hadn't. It doesn't melt! At least the chocolate I bought wouldn't. I thought I was going all out by getting the good stuff, but maybe I should have just melted some cheap white chocolate chips. In the end, rather than dipping the cookies, I had to brush on the goop (which is the most spreadable consistency I could get it to), and since I had to keep the chocolate over the heat to keep it goopey, it was also very hot, scalding in fact. So I pretty much burned the heck out of my hands while trying to evenly cover each cookie. Since this was the first cookie I attempted, I was afraid it didn't bode well for the rest of the day. Thankfully, this was the worst mishap I had, and it ended up being pretty worth the effort. They may not have looked it, but they were delicious, definitely enhanced by the white chocolate, so I wouldn't skip it. In fact, they were Husband's favorite! Maybe next time I should try thinning it out with some butter or water or something?

One note on the recipe, it called for way more white chocolate than I needed. It called for 2lbs, and I only wanted to shell out the money for 1lb. I think it ended up being pretty close, but I actually still had a little left over. Perhaps that's because I didn't have anywhere near the 6 dozen the recipe supposedly makes. Considering my cookie cutter was only like an inch and a half, and I only ended up with about 2.5-3 dozen cookies...that's a seriously small cookie she's making! Be warned. Also, have you ever tried sprinkling peppermint candy dust? It doesn't sprinkle so much as clump and stick to your fingers. I don't really have any tips for you, just play around with it until you find something that works for you. And maybe practice sprinkling before you turn half your cookies into a clumpy mess like I did. I ended up sprinkling with dust (a certain flick of the wrist helped de-clump), and then going back over with the courser crumbs for a bit of crunch.

• Cherry-nut rugelach, courtesy of King Arthur Flour, via Serious Eats. Another (successful!) first attempt. If you've never had rugelach, it's a flaky almost pie dough-like cookie wrapped around a cinnamon roll-like filling. But it's a cookie! They're seriously good. The secret to the dough is cream cheese. I hear that it really makes all the difference in flavor and tender texture. I wouldn't know, but since they turned out so well, I'm not going to knock it, that's for sure. I used dried cherries and walnuts as suggested, but I'll bet you could play around with other dried fruits and nuts, though I don't know why you'd want to. Everything here just worked. Unfortunately, it was also very labor intensive. It made 64 cookies! That's 64 wedges of dough you have to cut out, 64 wedges you have to roll up and shape. The recipe makes exactly that many because you actually divide the dough into 8ths and then slice each piece into 8 wedges. I'd say you could always go for bigger wedges and end up with bigger cookies, but I think the size I ended up with was perfect, a nice bite size.

By far the best compliment I got on these cookies was my co-worker telling me that they tasted just like the rugelach her aunts used to make her. She said the best food is the kind that invokes a memory and I had done a really good job. Isn't that the sweetest thing ever?

• Sugar cookies, courtesy of Martha Stewart. I decided to represent a little Chanukah in my Christmas cookie tin with these dradel-shaped sugar cookies. I decorated the tops with turbinado sugar I mixed with blue food coloring. I had to add quite a bit to keep it from looking green. It was a shout out to the sugar cookies we used to make when I was a kid, decorated with red and green sprinkles. I know sugar cookies are sugar cookies, but these really were divine. I really liked the simplicity of the recipe, and I wanted one with a good amount of butter. Sugar cookies should be buttery! Unfortunately, they really lost their freshness the next day. Even though they were stored properly, they became a bit stale in texture. Since these were traveling all over the place, I probably would nix this cookie next time. But for any same-day event, these cookies are a winner (and really, even "stale" they still tasted pretty darn good to me!). They also made a ton. Probably about 4-5 dozen because my cookie cutter was smaller. So unless you have a million people to feed, or unless you're using giant cookie cutters, I would halve this recipe.

• Slice and bake cookies, courtesy of Smitten Kitchen. These were essentially shortbread cookies with cocoa powder, orange flavoring, and dried cranberries and pomegranate seeds. They were, unfortunately, really not my favorite. I added cocoa powder to the dough, mostly to appease my chocolate-loving husband. I think they would have been better without it. I also had a dried cranberry/pomegranate seed combo package from Trader Joe's and decided to use it, instead of just dried cranberries. There was nothing distinctive from the pomegranate seeds, they didn't add anything, and their texture wasn't quite right for a cookie. I would leave them out next time. And I would add more orange. They weren't orangey enough. Personally, I liked these cookies the least of all, but I had a friend who liked these the best, so you just never know.

• Bourbon balls, courtesy of my mom. Let me tell you about these "cookies". When I told my mom I would be doing a cookie tin, and I was deciding which kinds of cookies to make, she told me about these bourbon balls my grandmother used to make. My mom said they were so good she literally gained 10lbs from licking the batter the one time she made them. Yikes! Fattening with booze involved? I was so there. First off, please pardon my lumpy spheres above. I don't know what deformity I have, but I am unable to roll dough into a ball to save my life. It always ends up some weird flying saucer shape instead. Anyway, these puppies were strong. I rolled them all out, popped one in my mouth, and then immediately started re-rolling them all smaller just so it wouldn't be such a kick in the teeth. Phew! It was like taking a shot! I think next time I would reduce the amount of bourbon I used...but not by too much! I'll post the recipe below.

I should also mention the reason these balls are so strong is because they are uncooked! It was actually kind of a pain because I felt like I needed to make a disclaimer to everyone eating them, especially those who were pregnant and breastfeeding. And I didn't want to give them to people at work because we have a dry campus and I didn't want to get in trouble. So I think next year I would leave these out. But they'd definitely still be good for a dinner party or other boozy event! Also, I really think these improved in flavor over time. The alcohol flavor chilled out a bit, and the flavors married together a lot better a day or two later. So next time I think I'll do these up ahead of time.

• Gingerbread cookies, courtesy of 101 Cookbooks. Somehow I didn't manage to get a picture of these cookies, which completely bums me out because they were far and away my favorite, and beautiful! I had a gingerbread man cookie cutter and everything. I could not stop eating the dough while making the cookies, and after they were done, I could not stop eating the finished product. Fantastic. Seriously. Which is funny because up until, oh, a year ago, I thought I didn't like gingerbread. It's kind of a more adult flavor, but oh do I love it now. But even if you don't love gingerbread in general, you will still love these cookies; Husband did! I kept telling him to try the dough (omg, it's the best dough ever!), and he wouldn't, insisting that he wasn't a fan of gingerbread. Well when he finally tried the finished cookie, he was a believer, and even regretted not trying the dough. Sucker! Definitely follow her advise and don't over-bake. I know my oven runs hot, so I actually ended up pulling them out a good minute or two sooner than the minimum recommended time. When the cookies were cooled I dipped them in some royal icing I whipped up with yellow food coloring. Don't worry people who ate my cookies, I used pasteurized egg whites I bought in a carton, which are supposed to not carry salmonella or whatever, though really, who gets salmonella from eggs anymore? Did I mention how much raw dough I ate?

What set this recipe apart from the other gingerbread recipes? It was definitely the white whole wheat flour. Don't be fooled by the name, it's still a whole wheat flour. I believe it just comes from a different type of wheat than regular whole wheat flour. It's a finer grain, which bakes up a lot less heavy, more like AP flour, but with that hint of nutty flavor that I love so much. Everything about the ingredients in this recipe worked great.

And those are all the cookies I had time to make. It was pretty hilarious to see every single surface of my kitchen covered in cookies. Considering I only made about 8 cookie tins, I definitely ended up with more cookies than I needed. Next year, if I have the time to do this again, I will definitely halve some of the recipes.

Here are my lessons learned (ugh, I am such an engineer):

• The freezer is your friend. I had dough firming up in the freezer pretty much constantly. It made such a huge difference in how they came out. Using the cookie cutters was a thousand times simpler when the dough was cold, and I think it really made a difference in how they baked up as well.
• Use easy cookie cutter designs. I thought I had! A star, what's so involved about that? Well it was still a pain in the butt. Next year I might nix it and just stick with a circle.
• Plan ahead! Make sure you have all the ingredients you need. You may have flour, but do you have enough of it for all the batches of cookies you want to make? I actually calculated it all out to make sure. I hate running to the store for one thing. I don't live close enough to make it not a complete pain in the butt. Also, plan what you'll make when. Some of the doughs I made 2 days in advance, just so I would have time! I made sure all the doughs were made the night before so cookie day was just about the baking. And read each recipe! If you need eggs and butter at room temperature, make sure you take them out of the refrigerator with enough time for them to warm up. I'm notoriously bad at this.
• As I already said with the gingerbread, but this really goes for all cookies, don't over-bake! Nobody likes crunchy dried out cookies. If you're going to go through all the trouble to make cookies, it's worth the extra minute of keeping a close eye on the oven a little before the time they're supposed to be done.
• Husbands are good at destruction. I got a bit stressed over the white chocolate fiasco, so Husband wanted to help out to help calm me down. I gave him the job of smashing peppermint candies, he enjoyed it immensely.
• Buy big enough cookie tins! I knew the tins I bought would be too small, but I was stubborn because the next size up I found were just too darn big. Next time just go a size up. Sure, it's a pain to ship, but better that than feeling like you're shorting your loved ones. I only had enough room for 2-3 cookies of each type.

Bourbon Balls

Ingredients:

1 c. ground pecans
1 c. powdered sugar
1 1/2 T. cocoa
3 1/2 c. crushed vanilla wafers
1/2 c. bourbon
3 T light corn syrup

Directions:
Combine nuts, sugar, cocoa, and wafer crumbs and blend well. Stir in bourbon and corn syrup. Form mixture into balls about 1" in diameter. Roll each ball in powdered sugar and store in a tightly covered container. Makes 3 dz.

julo notes: I just threw everything in the food processor and pulsed. If you have that option, I would definitely use it. I would probably only use 1/4 cup of bourbon next time. The crazy hippie homemaker in me would rather make her own wafers and find a substitute for the corn syrup, like agave nectar, but the lazy girl in me probably would never bother.



Did you notice how awesome my cookie pictures turned out? No, I didn't learn not to suck as a photographer overnight. I got some help in the form of a Christmas/Chanukah present from my awesome sister. More on that later.

2009 In Review

It seems all the rage with the new year was looking back on the highlights of 2009. I can't count how many blogs I read that summed up their favorite recipes from the year past. And you know what? It's a darn good idea! Sometimes I'm in a bit of a rush and, I confess, I skim. I think, oh that looks tasty, I should make it some day, then I click away and never think about it again. Looking at this year's food from some of the food bloggers I follow, I appreciated them calling special attention to the real winners. So I'm going to copy, kind of. 2009, looking back, was kind of a big year for me. Lots of stuff happened, some good and some bad; lots of changes, some good and some bad. It's worth taking a minute to reflect.

Well lets get the obvious out of the way. In 2009 I lost almost 70 pounds. I gave up eating out for almost every meal and learned to cook, bake, and be an all around vixen in the kitchen. I quit my over-priced, scary, annoying gym I hated going to (and really never went to), and started running around my neighborhood, doing workout games on the Wii (Wii Fit and EA Sports Active), and slowly reintroduced myself back into the gym (in the form of the tiny crappy one in my complex, it's perfect). I've never been prouder of myself. Whereas before I could be described as a lazy, thoughtless couch potato, I am now a superwoman who gets things done. I'm still rather thoughtless, but now that's because I'm busy thinking of other things. I feel like I could fill a whole separate blog writing about my lifestyle change. I've often thought about posting about it here, but I don't want to sound preachy. When people ask me how I lost weight, I'm never sure the level of detail they're looking for. I could talk your ear off for days all about how I did it, and how anyone can do it. The ins and outs. The little things. The tips and tricks. But I usually just reply with "diet and exercise", because, really, it seems like most people just want to know which fad diet worked for me. I saw many a face fall with disappointment with my answer, only because it wasn't something easy they could do themselves (it is! It's just not easy). This blog has definitely helped play a role in my lifestyle change.

On the not so happy front, I almost lost my job, and in the process, lost all respect for the company I work for. Not because they almost fired me (sorry, ahem, was almost "impacted by a reduction in force"), but because of the manner in which they chose who to lay off and who to keep. As in, they kept all the over-paid older conservative white men and fired all the minorities. Seriously. I'm not making excuses like "oh, they got rid of me because I'm a woman" because I'm bitter. They really did fire a bunch of women! And African Americans, and Asians, and Latinos, and younger liberals (though if they were white, that seems to have mostly been forgiven)! They fired an African American co-worker of mine, only to bring a higher-paid white guy in to do the same exact work. They've had complaints filed against them with the government for it. It's been disgusting to watch, and I have nothing but disdain for the people who are now in charge. I ended up switching to another organization under a completely different set of managers. Not to say they are any better, but I, as of yet, have no evidence of their all out bigotry, as I do with those in my previous organization. If I could think of a career that I could feasibly transition to that would require not a significant reduction in pay and no further degrees, I would jump on it.

On a related, happier note, in the course of events on the job front, I ended up getting offered a job with another company. Doing the same engineering work, and contingent on a project they haven't been awarded yet. But still, an opportunity for a fresh start. Terrifying, but fresh. I won't know if/when I start until next month. I hate change, so I'm secretly hoping they don't get it. Hehe. But it was beyond flattering to know that it wasn't a fluke, my getting hired as an engineer. Apparently other people are desperate enough to hire me to!

Unfortunately, since Husband works at the same company I do, the drama of the past year seeped in and infected our home life a bit. Not to say there is trouble in paradise. There is not. But morale was low. And it still is. Here's hoping we can pick ourselves back up in 2010.

You know what helps with that? Food!

2009 I learned so much in the kitchen. It's kind of crazy to reflect on all the kitchen adventures I had last year. And I've got the burn scars to prove it! In 2009 I not only got in the kitchen to practice home cooking more, I actually learned to cook:

I discovered quick breads. Banana bread, zucchini bread, pumpkin bread. You name it, I love it. I didn't eat a lot of quick bread growing up, so my love is new and exciting. Here's hoping our honeymoon phase lasts awhile yet. I still need to try breads with cornmeal and berries and nuts and other good things!

Learning to cook meant learning to cook meat. That's a no-brainer for some of you, for others you might think vegetarianism is ok. And it is! I was one, basically, for most of my life, because I never really liked meat. But in 2009, I was a full on carnivore! Taking on culinary duties meant feeding not just myself, but Husband as well. And he likes meat. So I would make it, mostly for him, take a little for myself, and one year later, I am now on board. I'll say I'm picky about meat. Picky about the quality, picky about how it's cooked, picky about the texture. Rubbery chicken I don't do. Even good chicken I'm still not the hugest fan of, but put a good sauce on it, and it's all good. Not to mention pork is divine! Who knew? I tackled lamb, beef, turkey, and even some fish! I'm glad I finally like meat. Any vegetarians out there can feel me on this one. Not eating meat is a pain! Going out to a restaurant, you're usually limited to about 2 choices, rather than the usual 20 million. You have to ask for specialty meals at events like weddings or company parties. You have to make sure to tell your host before any dinner party. You have to struggle to get enough protein. It's a pain.

You know what else I learned to like? Brussels sprouts and kale and beets and squash and mangoes and persimmons! Oh how I love persimmons. Basically, by getting out and cooking "new" foods, I really opened up my palette to the wonders of fruits and vegetables. I admit it. I used to be one of those people who would always go for the mainstream produce. Apples, lettuce, green beans, broccoli, bananas, etc. The safe stuff. The stuff that's easy to prepare. The stuff I grew up eating. I still buy all those things, there's nothing wrong with them, but they are decidedly safe. I'm glad I got out of my comfort zone to expand my culinary horizons this year. Turns out brussels sprouts are not only fantastic for you, they are actually delicious! You just have to have a few good recipes under your belt. I learned that there is not a fruit or vegetable I don't love. Except bok choy. I don't know why, I just don't dig it. It's too chewy for my taste. Husband has never quite gotten over it. He loves it.

I also learned to bake! I tackled bread! Bread! I don't know why, but to me bread was one of those completely non-approachable foods. I held in awe anyone who could make a simple no-knead loaf. Bread was mystical, and surely must take years of intense study and practice in a specialized kitchen to make properly. Then I tried the famous no-knead recipe, and the rest is history. Bread still is rather scary, in comparison to quick breads or muffins or good ol' cookin'. But I tackled things like pretzels, challah, and even bagels, and won! I made cakes, muffins, cookies, brownies, anything and everything. I now have a pantry fully stocked with all kinds of flours, sugars, baking sodas, powders, spices, etc. I rarely have to pick anything up at the store before I can try a recipe. Nothing is worse than a hankering to bake only to find you're out of butter.

I, like the rest of America (ugh, I hate it when I'm accidentally trendy), discovered whole grains. Not just brown rice or whole wheat pasta, but quinoa, wild rice, barley, lentils, spelt, farro, etc. I used to look at a picture of french fries and drool. Now I cringe at the grease and drool over butternut squash risotto. I learned to change my portions. Not just how much food I eat, but of what type. "Eat food, eat less, mostly vegetables". It's a phrase that is old news to anyone who knows Michael Pollan, but I was living under a rock, and just heard this phrase for the first time this week. It's simple, it's true, it's genius. It's basically what I discovered on my own last year.

In 2009 I broke the bank in the kitchen. Well technically we broke the bank in 2008 when we remodeled the kitchen. But in terms of stuff that goes in the kitchen, Husband was very good about my Bed, Bath, and Beyond shopping habit. I bought cookie sheets, cake pans, muffin tins, measuring cups, cookie cutters, dishers, cutting boards, pastry blenders, dough scrapers. You name it, I oogled it, and if I could justify it, bought it. My kitchen is fantastically stocked, and I still can only think of the things I want and don't yet have. A mini muffin tin, a tart pan, more dishers, etc. That's what 2010 is for, eh?

Some of my favorite kitchen essentials this year have been, well, essential! My microplane, for one. It zests, it grates, it...well that's about it, but it does those things fantastically. I used it pretty much every week for citrus zest, grating ginger and garlic, grating nutmeg, grating cheese. It really is the best $12 you can spend. My cast iron skillet, another $20 well spent! What took me so long to get one? I don't know. They cook everything beautifully and are easy to maintain. But my all time favorite purchase was Kiwi, my dutch oven. That's right, I named it. It's my baby. I love it so.

It does soups, stews, braises, and breads perfectly. Kiwi is my first dutch oven, so I can't say whether Le Creuset is really worth the extra money. But I can say that this Le Creuset dutch oven is divine. Kiwi is one of those things I meant to tell you all about months ago, but never got around to. Bad! See that utensil set pictured along with Kiwi there? That came with it. For free. A $70 utensil set! They're all silicon, and they are also on my list of kitchen things I love. I use them all the time, along with a bamboo utensil set I bought for when I need something a bit more heavy duty, like if I need to deglaze. I also received a couple of awesome kitchen and food blog related gifts this Christmas/Chanukah from my family that I want to make mention of. But I don't have pictures yet, and couldn't really do them justice. So that'll have to wait, and technically, I'll count those under 2010!

The dutch oven was my dream drool-over item for 2009. And since I was lucky enough to get it, I need a new item! And I already know what it is. An ice cream maker. It seems like everywhere I look people are making ice cream and sorbets that look to die for! But they need ice cream makers, of which I am totally lacking. Husband is an ice cream fiend, so he fully supports the acquisition...we just haven't worked out the logistics yet. As in, they cost money, and our money is earmarked for other non-kitchen related things for the foreseeable future. But since we don't foresee very far at any given time, it may yet happen. We shall see.

I became a total wino. Ok, I was always a wino. I love wine. Actually, let me rephrase. I became a total lout. Not to say I drank a lot, because I don't. But I put booze in everything. You know why? Because it tastes better! A soup with chicken broth? Eh. A soup with white wine or dry sherry? Now we're talking! Stews with red wine or stout beer. Breads with bourbon and whiskey. Chocolate cake with flambed prunes. Bread pudding with Grand Marnier. You name me a liquor, and I'll name you a dish I'd like to cook it in. I've been boozy-cooking all year, but I didn't dawn on me until very recently just how much I enjoy liquor in cooking and baking. Is that normal? Am I a total freak? Either way, I am definitely a lout...and damn proud of it! Booze makes food taste better!

Ok, now that this post is reaching novel status, I'll wrap it up with my hopes and dreams for 2010. I read some articles predicting food trends for the year. I thought that was fun, so I'll give a go at it. I think in 2010 the following will be big: maple syrup (seriously, I've already seen like 20 recipes using it, and it's only 2 weeks into the new year!), whole grains (because they're trendy right now), pork (because it never goes out of style), and rhubarb (pulled that one out of my butt, so we'll see!).

And finally, here's some ingredients I'm really looking forward to cooking/baking with more this year: rhubarb, cherries, apricots, plums, peaches, asparagus, chard, peppers, sardines, salmon, trout, scallops, lamb, pork, and chocolate. Also, this is the year I tackle creme brulee. It'll happen!

What did you accomplish in 2009 that you're most proud of, kitchen-related or otherwise? What do you think will be big in 2010?

Update: I forgot to mention one thing. The meals I am most proud of from last year. There are two, and they actually fall on New Year's Eve, and a just a few days before that. First, after we got back from spending Christmas with the in-laws, I took advantage of the time off to make bagels. They are slightly labor intensive (though less so than I remember), so I had been waiting for the right opportunity. The bagels turned out fantastic! I got a much better rise than the first time I attempted them (I store my yeast in the fridge now), and the flavors were just...oh so wonderful. My mom once made a comment that she didn't see the point in making bagels when you could buy them just as fresh from a bagel place. To that I say, try my bagels! Well ok, they're probably just as good, perhaps even not quite as good as store bought, but they taste so much better when they're home made. I'm pretty sure that's a scientific fact...you know, on a psychological level or something. Anyway, once the bagels were made, we cut them open, layered them with cream cheese, slices of fuji apples, and smoked salmon from Seattle. Real smoked salmon, as in, it's smoked, not cured. It's not lox in any way shape or form (except that both are salmon). It's to die for. I hope you can try it some time. I piled that sandwich high and paired it with a glass of Navarro Late Harvest Gewürztraminer. If you ever have the opportunity to try this wine, do. It is so frakking good. It's pricey, but buy the biggest bottle you can afford. You won't regret it. We had just a half bottle. It's crisp, it's light, it's sweet without being cloying (and I'm not usually a fan of sweet wines, but this is restrained). Definitely Navarro's specialty. It was so good with the salmon. Husband and I have never been so silent. We just ate, the occasional grunt to let the other know we were blissfully happy. I'm so glad I married someone who loves food as much as I do.

Then on New Years Eve I kind of accidentally cooked up a gourmet meal for just the two of us. I say accidentally because it started out just needing to cook up some escolar I had bought. Have you ever had this fish? It was my first time trying it, and let me just say, this fish is like butter. It melts in your mouth. I grilled it with an orange, meyer lemon, and garlic butter. Perfection. I paired it with pureed roasted cauliflower topped with sautéed leeks and a raw beet and fennel salad with orange and meyer lemon truffle vinaigrette. I say accidentally because when I went to the store to pick out ingredients to go with the fish, I didn't have any specific dishes in mind. I kind of just threw these things together, and magic happened. Really. When I put the plate in front of Husband, I said to him, "I don't know how I put these things together, but I just kind of...did." The food gods were watching out for me that night. Also, I paired the dinner with our last bottle of Navarro Gewürztraminer (not the late harvest, but also divine). Another meal with silent grunting. Husband especially. Every time he took a bite of fish, he would moan. He doesn't moan. It was that good. Husband even had the piece of mind to recommend I take pictures. I debated. Pictures meant a longer amount of time before I could dig in to the food. But I did. They're still on my camera. So pictures and recipes to come...sometime in 2010!

Playing Catch Up

I still haven't mentioned the food I made the week before Thanksgiving. Unpardonable! I was definitely cooking up a storm in the weeks before, probably in anticipation of the big day. Some hits, some misses. Check them out below.

Let's go ahead and do this in order. I'll start with the dish I liked most and work my way down to liked least. That way I get the gratification of sharing sooner, and I'm all about gratification.

• Kale and sweet potato gratin, courtesy of Smitten Kitchen. Deb's recipe actually calls for swiss chard, but for some reason my grocery stores just don't carry it. It sucks! But let me tell you. This is good. This is sinfully good. The sweet potatoes are sweet, the kale is nutty with an ever so slight bite to it. And the cheese...the bechamel... Sorry, I needed a moment. And thinking about it, it wasn't actually that bad for me. Wait, wait! Hear me out! The recipe called for heavy cream or whole milk. I had 1% and heavy cream. Since I wasn't about to use all heavy cream (ugh, emphasis would be on the heavy!), I mixed them! I forget what exactly my ratio was. maybe 50/50? Maybe I was daring and did 75% milk and 25% cream? Let's say I did. Because really, this recipe doesn't need to cream to be good. The cheese does a great job of adding creaminess, and the kale and sweet potatoes are so flavorful! Man oh man this was good! Make this one. Seriously.

• Mini meatloaves, courtesy of Food Network. I've mentioned these before. They are so delicious. I doubled the recipe this time, so they would last the week with Husband on the mini meatloaf eating rampage he tends to get on when these babies are around. He was very good about leaving enough for me to have one everyday in my lunch. Really, they're more like meatballs. I still need to try making these a bit smaller and making a meatball sandwich with them. Yum!

I had the hardest time actually getting the meat at the meat counter! I told the guy I wanted a pound of ground sirloin, a pound of ground pork, and a pound of ground turkey. The guy was an idiot (he's the same idiot that pulls some idiot move every single weekend I'm there, ugh.). He ended up giving me some meat that was neither of the 3 I mentioned. And every time (every time) I ask for sirloin, he starts for the ground chuck and says "this one?" I always have to tell him no, I want the one labeled "sirloin" (and I have to hold in the "which is why I asked for sirloin!"). I try not to be a smart ass b*tch, but sometimes it's so hard. Thankfully Husband knows me too well, and was there to keep me in check.

• Butternut squash soup, a mash-up of Shutterbean's...and some one else's, which I can't for the life of me find! Remember when I said I just wasn't big on squash soups? Yeah, I'm standing by that. I was in a soup mood, had some butternut squash, so thought, why not? But unfortunately, it was not all that. I ended up using more vegetables than just the squash, such as onion, celery, and carrots. And I added in some of the fresh sage I had left over from the polenta (see below). Even with the herbs, and curry powder, and other additives, I still thought it was a bit bland. And hot sauce didn't lend itself to the flavors, much to Husband's chagrin. Also, the sage was a bit overwhelming, so I would probably leave it out next time. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't great.

• Quinoa stuffed squash, courtesy of The Kitchn. This one was a miss, which bums me out because I was so excited to make it! It sounded fantastic. Quinoa with dates and pistachios? Yum! I'll admit that this recipe originally drew me in because I had a big tub of dates from Costco and nothing to do with them, but it also just sounded tasty. First, I'll admit that I messed up a couple of times. I used acorn squash rather than the dumpling squash called for. And in my frazzled state (I usually get a bit frazzled towards the end of the day on Sunday when I realize it's getting late and I still have a lot to make) I totally forgot to add the cinnamon and lemon zest. But I really don't think that was the problem. The problem was the squash. Either I'm not a fan of the stuffed squash delivery method (much as I wasn't much of a fan of those stuffed peppers a few weeks ago), or it was just my mistake using acorn squash. Either way I thought the filling was quite tasty, but it didn't wow me. I don't know that I would make it again, even if I could decide on a better way to eat it.

• Mushrooms and leeks with pumpkin polenta, courtesy of The Chef and The Photographer. I hate to say it, but I wasn't really a fan. Which bums me out because looking at the ingredients, I should be a fan. A huge fan! I love mushrooms and leeks, and cooked in butter and sherry with some fresh sage. Hello yum! And pumpkin! My fav! But something about this one just didn't come together for me. And I'm sure it was just my own cooking being off. First, I had textural issues. Polenta is mushy, mushrooms are mushy. It was a big mush party going on in my mouth. I know, my grandmother is turning over in her grave right now hearing me complain about food being mushy, seeing as how she always accused me of being too lazy to chew (thus why I didn't like meat growing up, supposedly). I used creminis. Perhaps another type of mushroom would yield tastier results. Or maybe some nuts thrown in for some crunch? Also, I went overboard on the sage. I hadn't used fresh sage before, so I didn't realize is was so...potent. And potent it is! And believe it or not, I also had issues with the polenta. I actually didn't much like the pumpkin with it. I didn't think the flavor meshed well with the rest of the dish. It just kind of tasted...off. I would take a bite and think, this would be good without the pumpkin. Maybe it's because I used canned pumpkin puree instead of fresh. Maybe canned pumpkin puree is perfectly acceptable in baked goods, but in cooking the difference really shows. That's probably it. But when I'm doing something as easy as polenta, I don't want to roast a pumpkin first. Husband really wasn't a fan. I've tried feeding him polenta a few times now, and each time he's tried it without complaint, but he just doesn't like it, which is too bad because I think it's pretty tasty and easy. It's pictured on the right side of my lunch container in the picture at the top.

Well there you have it. I don't think I've ever had so many mehs in one week! Thankfully the gratin and meatballs were fantastic enough to keep me excited the whole week. Unfortunately, I haven't been so great with taking pictures of my food stuffs since Thanksgiving. Bare with me people, it's been a busy few weeks! I'll have pictures galore when I show you the cookie tins I'll be sending out to people next week. Stay tuned!

PS: Did you notice I got a new keyboard? Woohoo! No more zzzzzzz issues! As you might have been able to tell from the plethora of zzzzzzs in this post. Though probably not because you don't realize how many times zzzzzz comes up until you're made to do without it.

Pumpkin Bread, Sans Cans!

I've posted about pumpkin bread before, but nothing I've made beats Alton Brown's pumpkin bread recipe that uses shredded fresh pumpkin rather than the canned stuff. It's moist. It's pumpkin-y. It's just fantastic. The first time I made it, I was too lazy...

Ok, quick aside: the "z" key on my keyboard doesn't work. Do you have any idea how annoying it is to have to comb the interwebs looking for the letter to copy and paste, or figure out what letter I can type to trick blogger's spell check into realizing z is actually what I want? Thank goodness it's not a popular letter, but even just this short missive has several! Oiy!)

Anyway, I was too lazy to confirm how to toast the pumpkin seeds, and I forgot to toast them until the batter was basically all put together and ready to go into the oven, so i don't think I toasted them for long enough. Yeah, they turned out chewy. Chewy seeds is definitely not a texture that is appealing while eating pumpkin bread. I didn't mind it so much, and I liked the flavor they added, but Husband hated them and picked them out, like raisins out of a scone. For future reference, Self, to properly toast pumpkin seeds, bake at 375 for about 7 minutes (and maybe drizzle (Ack! Two of them!) some olive oil on them first). I basically did that, but it's worth another try with some patience on the side this time.

I used my Cuisinart with the shredding blade to make quick work of the pumpkin. If you don't have one of these, or some other mechanical means to shred...perhaps this recipe isn't for you... Or perhaps you have a friend who will let you sneak over to their house for 5 minutes to shred and run. One medium pumpkin yielded enough meat for 2 loaves.

It doesn't look like traditional pumpkin bread because rather than orange in color, it's more of a brown with wisps of orange throughout, but it sure tastes like it! You can't get any fresher than, well, fresh! This bread cooks low and slow to really let the bits of pumpkin cook and become soft and delicious. I was dubious about the recipe at first because there aren't a lot of spices, just cinnamon, I think. I was worried it would be bland, and when it comes to holiday baking I tend to fall over backwards for anything with lots of holiday spices (i.e. cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, cardamom, etc.), but this bread was definitely not bland. The pumpkin is the star, and the cinnamon helps to give it a boost without overpowering it. Again, another reason it's important and fantastic that the recipes uses fresh pumpkin. Canned pumpkin, I think, would have been a bit bland indeed.

I've made it twice already (the second time without the pumpkin seeds), and it was delicious both times. In fact, I'm making it again tonight for my office holiday party tomorrow (along with a Snuggie for the gift exchange, how perfect is that?!). I'm going to try toasting the seeds again, but if that doesn't go over well, I'll try adding walnuts. I never get to add nuts to my baked goods because Husband whines that it ruins it. Ugh. Well Husband is out of town this week, so I can ruin all the pumpkin bread I want! Ha!

I have a feeling I'll be breaking this recipe out every time I see sugar pumpkins at the store. Sadly, that time of year seems to have come and gone already. Good thing I stocked up!

Hey, remember when I talked about making chicken stock? Well Lindsay and Taylor over at Love and Olive Oil just posted about making their own chicken stock, in a way quite different than the method I originally tried. They sweat the veggies in oil first, and simmer for about twice as long as I did. And they added way more herbs and spices, which is definitely something I was lacking. I have another carcass in the freezer (grrr!), so I might just have to give this one a go and report back. Wish me luck!

The Best Bundt Cake I Ever Made

For some reason within the last few months a bunch of my friends on Facebook decided it was high time Husband and I reproduce. Every Facebook status was twisted and corrupted into signs that I was pregnant. All in good fun and completely ridiculous, of course. Well a few weeks ago I posted the following status update: "[julo] has her very first bundt in the oven!" A few minutes later one of my friends politely scolded me for egging people on. Ha! Something about adding fuel to the fire. But I really did have my first bundt in the oven! I speak purely of edible delights, surely.

That's right I can't believe it either. I'd never made a bundt cake before a few weeks ago. The primary reason being that until a few weeks ago I also never owned a bundt pan. (Apparently my mom isn't into bundt cakes, as I can't remember ever seeing one in the kitchen growing up.) I mean, a bundt cake is just a cake in a giant donut shape, but without the pan, it's just not a bundt. But after a year of food blog reading, I was ready for the next step in my kitchen career.

Of course, new kitchen purchases are a sticky situation with the old ball and chain. Losing 65 pounds over the course of a year meant I was pretty much constantly buy new clothes (just to stay descent!), and all my kitchen adventures resulted in lots of equipment purchases (just to stay descent! There's nothing worse than an under-dressed pantry). Husband makes sure I don't go overboard (a job I happily give him!), but really it just means I have to get creative when I want something. Remember when I wanted a Dutch oven and I showed him the Dutch oven episode of Good Eats? Woohoo! Dutch oven for me! Well when I decided I was ready for a bundt pan, I showed him this:

Ohhhh yeah! Tell me more, Baby!

Ok, actually, I didn't show him this specific picture, since that's the one I made, and that would have been kinda hard, since I didn't have a bundt pan at that point, and I haven't yet perfected my time machine. But I showed him the link I'm about to share with you, and when you click the link and look at the picture, you'll understand why I am now in the possession of a shiny new bundt pan. Let's see if you can even resist the name of this treasure.

That would be an apple praline coffee cake, courtesy of Honey and Jam.

Click the link. You know you want to. You might want to have a bucket ready. To catch all the drool of course. Comparing her picture to mine, I really should have let the glaze thicken more to that chunky consistency she got. Next time!

This cake was fantastic! It was light and fluffy with a fresh flavor from the apples and cinnamon. The glaze was a little on the sweet side by itself, but since it was just a drizzle, it was a good amount in combination with the cake. And the pecans were awesome too. I highly recommend this cake. It was easy and very very delicious! A cake pan well spent!

Homemade Makes The Difference

Oh blog, I've been remiss! I've neglected you so! I blame a hectic work schedule and traveling for the holidays, and Farmville, but I know excuses are meaningless to you. You've been on the edge of your microchip wondering what deliciousness came out of my kitchen the last few weeks. Well I plan to catch you up this week on everything you missed. Which was quite a bit, actually. Nothing but success from Chez Lo, lately. Starting with my own homemade chicken stock!

All the tv chefs always say, again and again, there is no comparison for homemade stocks. Since my mom never did homemade stocks, I could never agree or disagree. Well with my trusty Martha Tome in hand, I decided to give my own a try.

I had a couple of chicken carcasses in my freezer, since I've been cooking so many whole chickens lately. And in an effort to keep my freezer fuller for greater energy efficiency, and also in anticipation of my own stock making efforts, I had also kept a freezer bag full of carrot and celery tops that I had been saving for a few weeks. So I pretty much had everything I needed!

I threw the chicken carcass in a big pot of water, added the carrots and celery bits, added 2 onions, quartered, and let it gently boil for about an hour and a half. I tried Martha's fat-skimming technique, which was to boil it very gently and skim the fat periodically during cooking, but there was never any to skim, so I guess I just got a less fatty carcass. But here's the real trick. Something I never would have thought of on my own. It's not earth shattering. You might think of it. But if you did, you're smarter than me. Here's the thing. After the stock is all cooked up and delicious, after you strain out all the cooked bits of food particles, you let the stock sit. Let it sit and cool. And then. You skim it! In my ever-impatient state, I would throw that baby in the freezer as soon as it was strained, and then complain when my stock turned out heavy and fatty tasting. But if you're patient and let it cool at room temperature first, then throw it in the fridge overnight, all the fat will rise to the top and congeal and you can skim it off so it's gone! Voila! Fatty bits-less stock!

Of course, after I made the stock, I realized I had no way to freeze it. Or rather, no containers to hold 5 quarts of stock for a long period of time. I've since bought some more of those plastic freezer jam containers and ice cube trays to hold most of it. I've learned that freezing stock in too large a quantity makes it a pain to use later when you have to defrost it. Again, not an actual problem with a little forethought. But I barely have present-thought, let alone fore. So yeah, smaller is better for me.

I used the last of the stock last night, and I think I can safely say...store-bought stock is dang good! Sure my stock was good, but if anything, I think the chicken flavor in my stock was a bit too strong. And it's so much easier to just pop open a carton, use what I need, and throw the rest in the fridge for later use. I can't speak to the cheap stuff, but that free-range organic chicken stock they sell at most grocery stores is pretty darn good and really not that expensive. I'll definitely try a second attempt at making my own (if only because I still have a carcass in the freezer), and I'll try throwing in some other veggies like leeks and broccoli stems, and I'll try cooking the veggies a bit longer, but removing the carcass so it doesn't get too chicken-y tasting, but I'm definitely not recommending you run out and make your own if you're not feeling up to it. I didn't find it made all that big of a difference, personally. And I'm usually all about making as much in-house as you can.

That's my 2 cents! Have you made your own chicken stock before? What did you think? How did your cooking technique differ from mine?