Let's give this another go...

Well, that was a fun eight-year hiatus. I am, at long last, finding my food writing legs—in children's picture books of all places. In fact, today I reached a huge milestone: I received my first rejection email! As I read, write, and cook, I'll be sharing my successes, failures, and discoveries here.

Just now, I must get back to mowing the "lawn" in the kitchen with a red trombone that is sometimes a lawnmower and sometimes a motorcycle. With this guy:

I'm not done yet!

We never went to see that cuban salsa band
and I didn't get to wear my green striped heels
you never saw the piece I did on sadness
and I never got to feed you my best meals

We never went to see that one exhibit
and we never even tried to partner dance
we didn't get you eating beans or butter
and you never saw me in my yellow pants

We never got to go to Santa Barbara
and you never heard me play on my guitar
we haven't ever sung a hymn together
and we didn't even wish upon a star.

I just need another week
another year or ten
one lifetime would be enough
time to do these things and then

I promise I wouldn't bother you
after that I'd let you go.
Just one itty bitty lifetime please,
I'd give you mine, you know.

What wonders can be made with what I find?

Sometimes,
through the decompressed voice stream pressed to my ear,
I hear your skin unzip,
just a little.

I want to reach through the cells
between us to cradle your head and undo
the stuck
bits
in the
zipper,

see you lying there, your primary colors hanging out all over the place.
wordlessly root through you, piece by little Lego piece.

Everywhere teeth and smiles and serious eyes.
Laughing cup holder. Corn in a bag.
Sunday, perfect Sunday.

Butterscotch Pudding

2 ounces unsalted butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
1 T cream
1/8 t. salt
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons corn starch
splash or more scotch

Melt the butter and brown sugar in a medium saucepan. Cool slightly.

Whisk together the cream, cornstarch, salt and yolks. Heat the milk, add the sugar mixture, then temper into the yolk mixture.

Return mixture to the pot and simmer, stirring constantly, until the pudding mixture begins to boil. Stir in the scotch. Divide among ramekins. Refrigerate 6 hours.

And another one...

sub Coconut oil (melted) for the vegetable oil in your waffles. And then use it to coat the pan. It even "fries" the waffles crispier on the outside than veggie oil does.

YUM

I recently acquired a gallon of coconut oil after trying it out at my sister Annalaura's house. She taught me a few uses and I've discovered a few more:

Mix it into peanut butter and eat it on apples or anything.
Mix a teaspoon into your cup of hot chocolate
Use it to cook your popcorn in
Fry shrimp with fresh peppermint in it

The popcorn, I must say, is spectacular. Especially with the pink Himalayan salt I got from my other sister, Gypsy.

Oh, and it's good as moisturizer for you, too.

TWO people (who are not family) told me this week that they still check my blog. Aack! How boring since I never ever update it. So, I'm updating. But the only thing I've been doing is cooking. And unfortunately, I haven't been taking any lessons in food photography, so my pictures are, well, not as good looking as the real-life food. But, here you have it:

Candied lemon slices

addendum: I was just asked where I bought the candied lemon. They are just in an anchovie jar because I didn't use them all on the cake. They're boiled in simple syrup and then dipped in the same syrup once it has boiled down and reached firm ball stage.

Lemon curd butter cake for Patrick's birthday (no I did not serve it in this, but I forgot to take a picture after it was on the cakestand)

Duck legs for New Year's Eve (in Orin's pot from Ross)

Dinner at the Duddridges (sorry, Linz and Joey...shoulda been there)

Close up of the Duddridge dinner, short ribs and some sort of salad, I guess.

Orange, date, and pistachio salad

Ryah

I got to visit Janina and Peter's baby today for the first time. This is 3-week old Ryah.

Ideas from the market, for Cherry. And anyone.

Today Cherry and I were discussing easy dishes to make from the things we get at the market. She inspired me with pickled beets, and I told her about the $1/pound tomatoes I've been throwing whole into a pot of olive oil and cooking for 3 hours. They can be used for sauce (blend and add grated Parmesan and egg yolks), as a side dish, on crostini, mixed with greens.... This evening I got to thinking of a few more simple things I've made recently:

Beluga lentils -- cook them in water or stock. Cool to room temp. Add chopped chervil and mint and drizzle with olive oil.

Roasted things: cut up apples, celery root, butternut squash, and shallots. Toss them with olive oil and stick them in the oven at 400 until they're all nice and brown.

This is one mom and I tried after hearing a bit of Carol's lecture at the New School of Cooking: Greens with dates (sliced lengthwise into matchsticks, if possible), pistachios, oranges, and goat cheese. We dressed it with white wine vinegar and olive oil.

Guess I'll add more as I think of them. Happy marketing.

Simple Dreams

You grade papers by lamplight.
I shell a colander of black-eyed peas.
Zig zag zig zag we sip our jars of wine.

Fig and Raspberry Almond Tarte

Crust:

1 cup butter, cold, cut into 1/2 inch pieces.
1 cup almonds, finely ground
1 cup ap flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
ice water as needed

Mix together ground almonds and flour. Add salt and sugar. Mix. Cut butter into flour mixture until it looks like course sand. Add just enough ice water so that the dough holds together. Gather dough into two equal balls and flatten into disks. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate while you make the filling.

Filling:
12 oz fresh or frozen raspberries
1 cup sugar
12 figs

Heat berries and sugar in a sauce pan until mixture resembles a watery jam. Depending on the berries, you may have to add a little water. Let cool to room temperature.

Cut figs in quarters lengthwise, set aside.

Roll out one disk of pie dough into 1/8 inch thick circle. Place in 8 or 9 inch tart pan. Place figs evenly around the bottom of the tart pan on top of the dough. Pour raspberry "sauce" over the figs to fill the pastry shell. Roll the second disk of pie dough into a 1/8 inch thick circle. Cut into 1 inch strips.

Lay strips along top of filling, attaching at the edges to the bottom crust and leaving a 1 inch gap between each strip. Turn the pie and place the rest of the strips are at a diagonal, forming a diamond shape of raspberry filling showing through. Don't worry about doing any sort of "basket weave" under-over thing. This dough is so buttery, it all just melts into itself anyway.

Bake at 400 for 30-45 minutes or until the crust is brown. If the outside part of the crust starts cooking too fast, turn the oven down to 350.

Serve with 1 cup whipped mascarpone cheese mixed with 1 teaspoon lemon zest and 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Happy Birthday to Me

I just bought myself 2 pounds of foie gras that will be seared in celebration of 30.

Electronic Company

4 am, lonely prone
Read. Type. Click.
I don't want to sleep alone.

"New message" shown.
Spam. Hype. Ick.
4 am, lonely prone.

Up, down phone.
Texting, texting, buttons stick--
I don't want to sleep alone.

Neighbor, Neighbor. are you home?
Toss. Turn. Kick.
4 am and lonely prone.

Lonley, lonely dial tone
Facebook status shtick.
I don't want to sleep alone.

Complain. Refrain. Moan.
Clock. Tock. Tick.
4 am--lonely prone--
I don't want to sleep alone.

Highlights of Last Night's Fondue Dinner

Orin in a green frilly apron.

Tom Jones on vinyl.

My nail that the cheese grater got.

Hot plum brandy.

2 bottles of Pellegrino all for me.

The cheese crust at the bottom of the pot.

Christa's running commentary on Michael Fisher's age.

Song and the stories she told.

Peaches soaked in Brandy for two days.

Tuna Salad Sandwich Perfected

Unfortunately, my photography is not as perfect as my sandwich, but you get the idea.

2 oz quality tuna (imported in olive oil)
1 t. mayo (just for looks)
1 t salt-packed capers, rinsed
1 scoop pickled onions -- see recipe below
1 t. chopped parsley

mix it all together and eat it on not-too-sour sourdough.

Pickled onions: (from the Zuni Cafe cookbook, mostly)
12oz small young red onions, sliced thin
1 cup water
1 cup vinegar
any spices you want (I used pink peppercorns, black peppercorns, 2 cloves, and 3 bay leaves)

Bring the water and spices to a boil. Throw in sliced onions. Cook for one minute. Transfer to jar and let cool. Refrigerate. They're good as soon as they cool...and just get better
the longer you keep them.

Do you know the melon man?

Me either. He looks a bit like a melon himself, rotund with an orang-y hue to both his skin and facial hair. But he gave me a free melon (most likely because I was wearing a short pink skirt, but still...) He asked me not just which day I wanted to eat it, but what time. I thought he was joking, but I just cut it open and it was everything I could do to hold back from gobbling up the entire thing immediately instead of saving it to go with the anchovie pasta Lara and I are making for friends tonight. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask the name of the melon. Or the melon man.

Cream or Sugar with your Tetanus Shot?

Generally, when I've been to a doctor's office, I've felt a bit herded. Sit here. Stand here. Do this. Tell me that. Though, logically I understand that I have the right to say yes, I want this and no, I don't want that, it doesn't ever occur to me to exercise that right. I do whatever they say, leave with a smile, and realize after I get home that I forgot to talk about ANY of the 4 or 5 issues I had been storing up in my head all year as "things to ask the doctor when I go."

Not this time. Oh, no. I went into Kaiser, knowing exactly my problem and exactly the medication I needed. The office visit, I thought, was a mere formality...a way for them to charge my insurance. But I was wrong.

"Hi honey," said the jolly and slightly overweight nurse after she called me in from the waiting room. "I'm Gloria. Would you like to be weighed today?"

"Well, um, okay."

"And what about your height? Should I write down 5'1" or 5'1 and 3/4"?

"Uh, 5"1' should be okay, I guess."

"Just a few questions for you now. Slip on over here so you don't announce everything to the world." She patted the seat next to her. "Now," she lowered her voice to a whisper, "do you smoke?"

More questions followed. Some loud and clear. Others whispered. "Busbar?!" she nearly screamed, "what's that for?" So, yeah, though luckily I was spared from the entire nursing staff thinking that I smoke, they do all know that I'm depressed.

"Okey, dokey. Would you like a tetanus shot today?"

"Well, um, actually I just came in with a UTI."

"OOOOOohh," she was almost yelling now. "Those are just miserable. You poor little thing. Do you have to pee right now? I'll put you in the room right next to the bathroom so you can just run back and forth. Anyway, we can give you a tetanus shot if you like. It's good to get one every 10 years or so."

"Does it say I need a new one on there or something? I don't remember when I got one last."

"Oh, well, if you think it was more than 10 years ago you might want to read up on it. You know, better than getting lockjaw. Let me see if I can figure out how to print this information for you. Darlene? Which one of these tetanus shot websites do you usually print out? Charlie, come fix this computer, it's not working. "

"So, but why are you suggesting a tetanus shot? Does my chart indicate that I need one?"

"Oh, no dear, you certainly don't have to get one. Okay, come right this way." She led me, true to her word, into the room directly across from the bathroom. "Did you want to be examined today?"

"I'm pretty sure I know what I have, but if the doctor needs to make sure, I mean, I don't mind..."

"Okay, well. If you like you can take off your pants or your top whichever you like and just wrap this one or this one (She held up a flowered "robe" and next to it a sheet) around you. See, if you like this one, just fold it in half and wrap it around you like this." Gloria demonstrated holding the sheet tight around her baggy scrubs. "That way everything's not just hanging out. Would you like to do a urine culture?"

"Oh, that's what I wanted to ask you. I started taking antibiotics already and I didn't know if that would mess up the urine test or not..."

"Okay, well, it's up to you. You can or not or you can just talk to the doctor. I'll just leave a cup right here in case you decide you want to. Is there anything I can get for you? Any other procedures you'd like today? A pap perhaps? Or a blood test? No? Okay, well, I'll just leave you to it then. The doctor will be in when she's ready."

I made it down a run that said, "experts only". Yes, I did. On a snowboard. And there WOULD be pictures to prove it. 'Cept Linsey had to drop the camra, get down on her knees and spread her arms out wide to catch me as I came sliding, head-down-hill, down the steepest part at the top. I thought I'd take us both down, but she held her ground. Three cheers for LD. Anyway, I did manage to make it down the rest of the way inspite of the snow packed into my pants and jacket. I didn't realize until several runs later that I had a wheelbarrow full of the stuff still sitting in my hood.

More pictures on Linsey's blog:

Asparagus Risotto

I haven't seen much good-looking asparagus at the markets this spring...until today. If you happen to find some good asparagus, I highly recommend this dish:

For the asparagus: cut off the tops and set aside. Cut again about 3 inches from the bottom of the stems. Set the middle pieces aside and mince the ends (all except for the very very woody last big on the end.)

1 T olive oil
1 T butter
1 small onion, finely diced
one bunch asparagus
1 cup arborio or carnaroli rice
1/2 cup white wine
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 lemon (and zest)
1 cup grated parmiggiano reggiano
black pepper cracked in a mortar and pestle or chopped with a knife
salt

Heat the chicken stock in a sauce pan. Heat another pot or pan (I use a skillet) over the fire, add olive oil and immediately add butter, onions, and minced asparagus bottoms. Cook until onions are clear and soft. Add rice and "toast" for about 1 minute. Add wine and pepper and zest. When wine is mostly absorbed, add chicken stock 1/2 cup at a time, waiting until the previous 1/2 cup is absorbed to add the next. Taste as you go adding a little salt.

Meanwhile...

Blanch and shock the asparagus tips and middles. Save the middles (the best part) to put on your baby greens tomorrow. Use the tips as garnish.

When the rice is soft (but still chewy) stop adding stock. Add parmeggiano reggiano (do not substitute another kind of parmesan....it will get stringy instead of melting into a cream). Serve in a pasta bowl garnished with asparagus tips. Squeeze a bit of lemon juice over the top and drizzle with olive oil.