Pre-thanksgiving

No Turkey -- Back Story

2011-02-20T07:02:00.000-08:00

2002, my thesis project was a cook book. Written (friend and family recipes), illustrated (yeah chicken diagram, see above) and designed for my senior year at design school. To get a cover shot (above) I invited all my school pals to pretend-cook a thanksgiving dinner in front of the lens. After the lights and cameras were turned off, we ate the props. It was an excellent dinner. A week before Thanksgiving, we all had a hard time stomaching a second (real) turkey dinner. I swore I would keep getting people together, but promised no more turkey.

I have kept up the tradition of this meal every year along with after-dinner homespun absurdist pictionary. Here is a review of each year, and the basic menu. If you've ever been to this shindig you'll remember every facet is homemade, down to the condiments.

2002 -- The original, turkey and fixins
2003 -- Lasagna (received the title lasagna stealth)
2004 -- Pork tenderloin, risotto, other goods
2005 -- Just the sides (this is the year things got serious more food, variety and guests)
2006 -- Brunch (People arriving at 2 pm stayed until 11, and were fed 3 meals, this may have been the most fun year)
2007 -- Mezas and tapas (biggest variety, biggest crowd = 50 plus people)
2008 Make your own pizza, with billions of people

2009 Taco party, Ole.

2010....Delayed due to lack of space

Cantaloupe Alone is Born

2009-07-06T18:08:00.000-07:00

Pre-Thanks was doing double duty as my dinner party blog and recipe blog until Cantaloupe Alone came along.

Please visit Cantaloupe instead of here. All of these photos, recipes, and on have been migrated over. Goodbye until fall, when its dinner party time. A tout a l'heure.

Uncle of all Sandwiches

2009-07-05T09:03:00.000-07:00

Inner strata after cutting in half. See how the pesto seeps into the bread.
Thats good!

I don't quite know what the mother or father of all sandwiches would be. Maybe a pb&j, or pastrami on rye? What would the grandfather of all sandwiches be? I guess the Earl of Sandwich would know, but he was not at my 4th of July picnic. The uncle of all sandwiches is a big pan-bagnat style Italian sandwich topped with sopressata, smoked mozzarella, basil, roasted red peppers, artichokes, and pesto on hunky wheat bready. He smells like an Italian deli, is rich (with textures), and is sort of falling apart. Recipe to make it:

1 8-9 inch round loaf of bread
(You want the best! I used Balthazar's Wheat)
1/2 cup pesto
1/4 cup packed with fresh basil leaves
(don't substitute with dried basil, if you must replace use arugula)
1/4 lb thinly sliced sopressata, sliced thinly
1/4 lb smoked mozzarella, sliced medium to thin
1 6-8 0z jar of roasted red peppers
1 6-8 0z jar of oil marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
black pepper (red pepper if you like it hot!)

This sandwich which will be pressed under weighted plates in your fridge, so first make sure you have 10-12" square by 6-8" high space open.

Cut your loaf of bread in half with a long serrated knife. Insides out, which means pull about half (or less) of the bread out from inside of the cut halves. You are making space to layer the ingredients. Spread half of the pesto on the bottom half of bread and the other half on the top. Drizzle a little bit of the artichoke marinade on the each bread half for extra flavor. Arrange the sandwich fillings in this order:

1/2 of the basil leaves
sopressetta
1/2 of the smoked mozzerella
roasted red pepers
artichoke hearts
1/2 of the smoked mozzerella
1/2 of the basil leaves
sprinkle with pepper

Cover with top half of bread. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Place on a plate, larger then the sandwich. Cover the top of the wrapped sandwich with another large plate. You are making a plate-sandwich sandwich! Set in fridge. You will need to weigh down the plate sandwich with something heavy. I used 4 cans of beans which I placed in a skillet on top of the plates. The skillet prevents the cans from sliding off the plate. If anyone sees this pile of dishes in your fridge they will certainly think you have the whole idea of cooking backwards. Chill the sandwich for 3 hours to 24 hours, so the juices and flavors mingle.

After slicing in half, cut width-wise to make managable pieces.

Remove from the fridge. Unstack and unwrap the sandwich. Slice in half. Slice each half into 8 pieces, width-wise. Return slices to plate or serving platter. Allow to come to room temperature for about 1 hour.

Craig savors his slice. The uncle of all sandwiches was

pretty popular at the 4th of July Picnic I attended.

I can't lie, this sandwich is tricky to cut! Its innards flop out. Do not sweat it, you can shove those rebel fillings back in the bread with clean fingers. I suggest cutting the sandwich when its as cold as possible. It serves 10-8 with no leftovers, because everyone loves it.

Picnic Perfect

2009-07-05T08:41:00.000-07:00

This talented-typography-loving lady decorated her strawberry mascarpone
cream pie with home-made tempered chocolate letters.

I love to be the guest. Forget dealing with directions, gathering gear, and worrying about enough food and paper plates. Its glorious to show up, and bring a thing-or-two to please. 3 categories of food always go over well on the picnic blanket.

1) Alcohol. Especially a slightly fancier mixed drink. Spiked lemonade, shaken margaritas, sangria. If in doubt a bottle of effervescent champagne or prosecco plus juice always are welcome.

Snacking on gooseberries & strawberries

2) Snacks and nibbles. Nuts, olives, fruit, crudité, mini sandwiches, chips, dip. You can be clever with this category, and a mix of health and slightly decadent please em all.

A little goes a long way in making a group feel full.

3) Dessert. Anything sweet makes everyone feel special. Group gatherings are the best place to test out your newest recipes and ideas. All the better if you recipe is a little fancy. Doesn't it feel good to spoil your friends and family?

Oh you could have an ice cream cone. My genius friends
successfully brought ice cream in a cooler bag to a hot day at the park.

Rosé Sangria for a Park Day

2009-07-03T09:58:00.000-07:00

The apple juice gives it a mellow pink-orange color.
It rained about 2 minutes after I took this pic, can you tell?

Most sangria recipes involve red wine and brandy plus fruit. I thought I would bring an intoxicating rosé and vodka for a lighter sweeter day on the picnic blanket. This recipe is designed to make 2 large bottles of sangria. Perfectly portable to sweeten any group up with.

5 medium peaches, plums, or nectarines - pitted and sliced
1 small granny smith apple- cored, quartered and sliced
1/2 pt black berries
juice of 1 lime
1-3 tblsp sugar

1 large bottle of rosé or blush wine
(I bought a Beringer zinfandel which conveniently does not label its volume, but rest assured it the larger looking bottle)
1 gallon of apple juice
1 cup vodka

Macerate the fruit in a medium bowl with the lime juice and sugar. Macerating gives the fruits time to get to know one another and absorb each others flavors. The less ripe your fruit the more sugar you need, so add sugar as needed. Forget about it for 1-2 hours, this is a casual weekend recipe that doesn't so much attention.

This sangria is not in prison, just sitting in a Brooklyn window.

All of the apple juice into an empty pitcher. Pour half of the wine into the now empty apple juice bottle. Divide the fruit and its sweet nectar-like juices between the half empty apple juice bottle and half empty wine bottle, or are they half full, you tell me. Add 1/2 cup of vodka to apple juice bottle, and the other 1/2 cup of vodka to the wine. Fill each bottle close to the top with apple juice from the pitcher. Taste each bottle. I found I need to add a little more vodka at the end to give the drink just a little zing. You will have extra apple juice for another purpose.

Refrigerate for at least 3 hours, and up to 1 day before serving. Oh dang, its refreshing and punchy. You will have 2 bottles to intoxicate a crowd with.

Pt 3 Macarons - Fillings

2009-06-28T12:52:00.000-07:00

Berry filling tart and sweet.

Just imagine all of the fillings the delicate macaron cookie could compliment. Really, you do all of the imagining. I already made a list in Pt 1 of the Macaron Series. I went for Lime Curd, based loosely on the Barefoot Contessa's recipe, Berry Jam based on the fact that fresh fruit is cheap in the summer, and Almond Honey Paste based on the fact that I had extra almonds.

Lime Curd

2 limes, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
4 tblsp butter, or half of one stick, room temperature
5 egg yolks, room temperature
1/4 cup honey
pinch of salt
2 tsp corn starch mixed with 2 tsp cool water

Zest and juice the limes, keeping 1/4 cup juice separate. Add the zest and granulated sugar to a food processor, blend for 1 minute. Add butter and pulse until butter and sugar are creamed. Add yolks, one at a time, pulsing until evenly combined. Add lime juice, salt, honey, and corn starch mix to the food processor and pulse again until combined to complete the lime curd base.

Bring lime curd base to a 2 quart sauce pan. Heat over medium low heat. Stir constantly until beginning to bubble and curd thickens. Remove from heat, place in fridge to cool for 4-5 hours.

Berry Jam

1/2 pint blueberries
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon blackberry brandy (or other dessert liquor)
1 teaspoon lime juice
6 oz mixed berry jam

Place the first 4 ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat until boiling and bubbling readily stirring. Lower the heat to medium, continue to stir until mixture thickens and coats a spoon, about 15 minutes. Add the jam and boil 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat, place in fridge to cool for 4-5 hours.

Almond Honey Paste

1/2 cup leftover homemade almond flour
(see Pt 2)
1/8 tsp salt
1-2 tsp canola oil
1 tblsp confectioner's sugar
1 tblsp honey

Place almond flour, salt, and 1 tsp oil in a small food processor or coffee grinder. I used my coffee grinder. Grind for 1 minute until paste starts to form. Stop and stir, if the paste looks too dry add more oil. Grind 1-2 more minutes until smooth. Using a spoon or spatula scrape the paste into a bowl. Add the sugar and honey. Mix with a spoon until smooth. Its all about being smooth. You may need to adjust the sugar, honey, oil ratios at the end to get a desired consistency. I made mine thick and on the saltier/savory side.

All of these fillings may be made a 1-3 days in advance and kept cool in the fridge. Spoon a small amount of filling into the center of a macaron cookie, so that just a small amount squishes out when sandwiched. Keep the lime curd macarons chilled. I packed mine in foil and have stored them in the freezer until their moment of truth.

Pt 2 Macarons - Brooklyn Style

2009-06-28T11:48:00.000-07:00

Macarons left to right - mixed berry, almond honey paste, and lime curd.
I made it all from scratch.

I had almost nothing I need on the macaron equipment and ingredient list, and no experience. No fear, I'm a brave Brooklyn home baker spending her weekend tackling the french treat. I spent my weekend preparing and attempting to follow my recipe. I can barely follow a recipe, so I made my own way.

First - Acquiring & Creating ingredients
I spent Friday looking for almond flour after work. Dean and Deluca's has it, $9 for about 2 cups. Whole Foods on Bowery does not have it, though they have hazelnut flour. I looked online, and it lthe flour can be bought for prices around $10-15. No way. I went to the grocery store and bought 1 1/2 lbs of raw almonds. I toasted them in my oven, cooled, and pulsed them in my food processor. Pulse being key. Clumping means you have begun to go too far, so stop. This homemade flour solution is barely acceptable. Commercial almond flour is finer and drier. Mine has texture and color, but that sounds more like my life, yah.

Confectioner's sugar is a snap to find at the store. Extra fine sugar can be made in a food processor (dump regular granulated sugar in and buzz it for 1 minute.) Parchment paper for the cookie sheets is easy, and I got mine at Sur La Table. I also picked up some jam, honey, blueberries, and limes at the store for filling.

I separated my egg whites on Saturday morning as suggested. I saved the yolks to make filling. Both stayed in the fridge.

Second - Filling
This is a whole separate post, but I suggest doing this before you bake your cookies. I feel like it frees up your mind to ponder the nuances of the macaron.

Next - Almost Ready
Sunday morning I got the egg whites out of the fridge about 2 hours before I wanted to begin. I cleaned all of my cooking utensils to prevent contamination of any lingering savory flavors. I assembled my pastry bag, which incidentally I am missing parts for. I was left using a star tip instead of a round tip, and it worked fine. I lined 2 cookie sheets with parchment, because I don't own a silpat. The parchment must be cut to fit slightly smaller than the cookie sheet so curling edges don't deform your macarons.

Not perfect in shape, but light and chewy

Fourth - Dough
The big annoying job is sifting the almond flour (grainy and homemade by me) with the confectioners sugar. I only have a strainer with semi-small holes. My cookies as a result have semi-large crumbs of almond giving them a speckled appearance. Next, I whipped my egg whites, perfectly. Yes, the only step I correctly followed. Folding, my advice, just go slow, and use a spatula. I didn't dye my dough. I couldn't bring myself to make a mistake and create some awful puke colored cookies.

Loading and piping the dough out of the pastry bag is tricky. The slack dough likes to ooze out of the bag before you are ready*. Its tempting to pump out the cookies quickly. Many of my cookies were oval or odd and not even sized. I was happy to walk away from them for 20 minutes to let the skin form.

*Note: My directions indicate beating whites to a medium peak, but I'm finding lots of recipes indication whipping to stiff peaks. I will try this next time. I think my oozing dough might have been under whipped.

Fifth - Baking
The macarons I baked on a thin sheet cookie did better than the insulated sheet, and I don't know why. My first batch started to crack, so I put a wooden spoon in the oven door, and no more cracking! The smell was perfect, and I was pretty happy to see a nice bubbley foot, which is the rough bottom edge of the macaron. Damn this is a complicated cookie.

Nice foot! Some of my macarons cracked. This one is a little over-done.
Pale edges and bottom, not golden, have a chewier taste.

The recipe yielded about 90 cookies, to make 45 macarons, minus a handful of broken cookies. I filled with almond honey paste, lime curd, and berry jam. They are going to be served to lucky people at a 4th of July event this week. I'm keeping them in my freezer for now. My cookies are not french or perfect. They are rustic looking, but very very very good. The lime curd is my favorite. I feel like I have barely gotten to know this complicated cookie, shall I may try again.

Pt 1 Macarons - Parisian Style

2009-06-28T09:25:00.000-07:00

I got my hands on a real Parisian Macaron recipe based on Christian Godneau instructions. Macarons are the essence of air. Egg whites whipped, folded with a few dry ingredients and baked to until crunchy and a touch chewy. The dainty cloud like cookies are sandwiched with whatever gooey delight your mind can dream up between. The recipe is a simple list of ingredients, that require the utmost skill and technique, a few specific kitchen tools (pastry bag and icing tips, silpat/parchment paper, standing mixer, sifter/sieve)and experience. The recipe is more tips than steps.

French Macarons:

12.5 oz or 3 1/4 confectioner's (powdered sugar)
6.33 oz or 2 cups almond flour
5 egg whites (brought to room temperature)
2 oz or 4 tblsp extra fine granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 350.

Sift the almond flour with the confectioner's sugar, and pick out large almond bits which were not ground finely.

In a standing mixer whip the egg whites on medium speed until soft, or past the foamy stage. Gradually add the fine granulated sugar and continue to whip until medium peaks form.

Remove bowl from the standing mixer, and hand fold in the sifted almond and confectioner's sugar. Dough will be slack and fall in ribbons. Add food coloring to dough, color represents filling, so pink=berry or green= pistachio etc.

Attach a 1/2 inch round icing tip to the end of a pastry bag, fill with dough. Pipe quarter-sized circles onto a silpat lined cookie tray. Allow to rest for 20 minutes or more until a dull skin forms. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool, and fill. Example fillings include: fruit jam, lemon curd, mocha butter cream, chocolate ganache, pistachio/nut paste, salted caramel, etc.

Key Tips to Remember:
-- Best made on dry days. Humidity prevents the cookies from properly drying out and egg whites from whipping well.
-- Make sure your tools are exceptionally clean. Keep water away from your standing mixture, your whites will never firm.
-- Pre-crack the whites, and let sit uncovered in the fridge for 1-2 days. Is this an evaporation thing? Could be, I don't know what this step is about.
-- Keep the handle of a wooden spoon in the door of your oven to prevent it from getting too hot. I found this tip on serious eats where you will find another tutorial.
--If cracks appear in your cookies:
--a- your oven is too hot
--b- too much humidity in the air
--c- egg whites were over-beaten
--d- dough was too moist, allow to form more of a skin/dry before baking
--e- the almond flour contains too much fat
--f- all of the above

Even if you screw up, your macarons will taste great. Dive right in and make some mistakes. You can tell all of your family and co-workers about it while they delight in your hard work. Thanks to Claire Michie for sending me the info.

Final Note: These are macarons not coconut mounded macaroons, but those are tastey too.

Almost Fatoosh

2009-06-28T09:15:00.000-07:00

Fatoosh is a Middle Eastern salad normally topped with toasted and crushed pita chips, and signature sumac, a delightfully sour seasoning. I don't have any pita chips, but I still have a ton of vegetables.

1/2 cucumber, diced
1/2 tomato, diced
2 green onions, chopped
5 radishes, diced
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sumac (optional)
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 tsp dried mint, or 1 tblsp fresh chopped
pepper to taste
1 tblsp olive oil

Mix it all up and eat! Fatoosh tastes better if you let it sit for about 2 hours. Its a pretty and refreshing salad to bring to a cook out and compliments meat exceptionally well.

Garlic Zucchini & White Beans

2009-06-25T05:41:00.000-07:00

Radicchio: nature's favorite shade of magenta offsets that charred zucchini just so.

Out with reflection and commentary on meals, right back in to recipe writing, starting now:

Garlic Zucchini & White Beans

1 tblsp olive oil
1 large zucchini, sliced into half moons about 1/8 inch thick
salt / pepper / red pepper (to taste)
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
8 cloves garlic
1 tsp white wine
(I use dry vermouth, cheaper & last longer then just white wine in the fridge)
1/2 head radicchio, thinly sliced
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
2 cans white beans
(cannellini, small white, butter beans, navy beans, or chickpeas)
more salt pepper and oil to finish

Heat oil over high heat in a large skillet. Add the zucchini, salt, pepper, red pepper and nutmeg. Stir to coat. Let is sit for about 4-6 minutes, but don't go away. You are looking for a good brown crust on the zucchini. Stir once, and wait another 4-6 minutes, trying to turn over exceptionally uncooked pieces so they get more heat. Add the garlic and stir every 4 minutes, cooking until all zucchini are a deep golden-brown and garlic is toasted. Lower heat and add the white wine. Scrape the bottom of the pan to remove browned bits. Remove from the heat.

In a bowl add the radicchio, onions, and white beans. Add the cooked zucchini and garlic and stir. Finish with oil, salt, and pepper to taste.

I divided this recipe up into 4 containers, and boom, lunch, for most of the week. Also I cooked mine in the grease leftover from a hamburger, that I fried as I cut my veggies. Is that too carnivorous? I decided to write olive oil in its place, but still the zucchini tasted assertively better from the grease.

csa week 1

2009-06-23T19:01:00.000-07:00

Above average amazing tasting csa share, which I laid out on my floor with care.
It was hardly fitting on my kitchen table to photograph for the blog-o-sphere.

Does a 14-16 inch zucchini seem obscene? How about 2 of them? Today was the first week of my csa (culturally sponsored agriculture) pickup for 2009. Its my 3rd year and 3rd farmer. The farm van arrived 30 minutes late, but it was jammed with the largest variety and portion of vegetables I've ever received. In previous years I've signed up with farms named something like Garden of Dirt or Shady Root Farms. This year I got Jorge, and I got to say hi and thanks to his help Hector. This is already so much better. Here is the contents:

Lettuce, 1 head
zucchini, 2 obese ones, about 4 pounds total
cucumbers, 2
red beets, 7
sugar snap peas, a big bag
spring onions, 5
garlic, 2 heads
tomatoes, 2

radish, 8 big ones

turnip, 3 very hunky ones
Greens of unknown variety
(I overheard them being described as Mexican green that can be cooked like spinach)
1 dozen eggs (extra but worth it)

I pick up a full share every other week. The list above is what I am eating for the next two weeks. I will post the salads and ideas I've already whipped up for this week later on. Those vegetables aren't going to eat themselves.

Variety Spread

2009-06-21T14:45:00.000-07:00

Brian making a hungry face at cocktail hour, devouring his anitpasto

I attended the wedding of a handsome Italian lady and serious Wyoming Western dude. It was a perfect combination of honkytonk music and Italian decadence, not to mention pretty wild. The anitpasto was enormous. I counted over 8 kinds of cured smoked ham cuts, more cheeses, countless spreads/tapenades, roasted veg, fruits, olives, a few pastas, bean salads, fresh breads plain and seasoned. Enough to make most of the guests think twice about dinner.

I have a lot to learn from these caterers.

Dinner was well organized around stations. Beef and salmon straight off giant grills behind the tables hanging off the back of the barn, pasta, salad with fixins. My favorite was the mashed potatoes served in a martini glass. You could choose from one of 4 varieties, and 20 plus toppings. Lots of people, lots of variety, and even more condiments, zero complaints.

pangs of being black in the stomach - recipes gone bad

2009-06-17T16:36:00.000-07:00

No updates for awhile, uuuh, yeah. There haven't been many meals in my life for a while despite my beckoning, stocked fridge. I am recovering from mother hugging food poisoning. Instead of a recipe, here is a some advice.

1) After the first upset instance, do not try to chug water to rehydrate. If you are really sick this will let loose more pain and anguish on your system.

2) Sip water, take 1 advil (cause you are in for some time and space altering cramps), wait 45 minutes.

3) If you can keep that first advil down, take a second advil with another sip of water, and wait another 45 minutes. If not, too bad, try again.

4) Now you have cramp pain under control, sort of. Sleep. You can't lose it if you are sleeping, you can have weird dreams, but much less discomfort for sure.

5) Call in sick to work, they are probably wondering about you. One time I had a friend call in for me because I couldn't speak with out crying, but oh lord that's another story.

6) After your nap, try drinking only 6 oz of water, and waiting. If you can manage this, you can try eating. I recommend instant soup or miso. Its the only thing I can keep down when I'm sick. I love and miss Batchelor's cup of soup. You can also eat one scrambled egg or dry toast, but really go for instant soup.

7) Keep yourself entertained. I tried watching 9 episodes of Lost Season 2, in a row. This was a mistake, because its getting creepy and loud noises are disturbing. I suggest reading comics. Quiet-like. Madlibs are excellent sick day entertainment.

8) The rest of my/your week may/still sucks. Be careful, and eat slowly. Definitely no coffee for a few days. I still can't stomach a meal. But I promise to post when I'm back to cooking. Right now its lots of protein powder, bananas, bagels, and instant soup.

9) Do not eat leftovers more than 5 days old! That's how I got into this mess. Being lazy, and eating old lentils. Gross.

Bittman's Flatbread

2009-06-04T14:05:00.000-07:00

Sesame seeds make me want to eat everything.

Hot flatbread is a treasure. Its easy with practice, or if you are Mark Bitman, simple right off the block. I experimented with his 4-ingredient (one is water) flatbread from his NYT's article. I am not a purist, so I added black pepper to the batter and sesame seeds on top.

2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup flour
(good flour counts in a recipe like this. I'm using King Arthur's 12 grain, which is superior)
1 big pinch salt
8 grinds pepper from a mill
1-1 1/4 cup water
sesame seeds

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Meanwhile in a 10-12 inch skillet, over medium heat, warm up the olive oil. The oil should generously coat the bottom of the skillet. Mix flour, salt, and pepper in a bowl. I mixed mine up in a medium cereal bowl, because this isn't a giant recipe. Whisk in 1 cup of water, mix until mostly combined. Add remaining water until batter resembles thick pancake batter. Add to the skillet, top with sesame seeds, and place entire skillet in the oven. Bake 50 minutes, cool, and serve.

I had great crust on my flatbread, but the center was moist like a bad pancake. I probably need a bigger skillet for this recipe. It could almost be called fried crust, as there isn't much rising action or other flavor to define the bread. I am excited to try making the bread with beer in place of half the water, or try another with a dollop of tahini to complete the sesame seeds on top.

Select Grade A Friends and Lamb

2009-06-02T12:28:00.000-07:00

Sarah & I have been eating rare tender cuts for almost 10 years, and I think she's special for it.

I can't share a big hunk of meat on the bone with everyone, only a special breed willing to indulge in clams, stuffed pork chops, standing rib roasts, meatballs, and yes, lamb. These grade a friends (you know who you are) encourage me to experiment with meat-based meals (because lets face it, I can bake a mean fucking vegan cupcake, but really I'd rather eat a steak), and I lovem for it!

Leg-o-lamb, lightly seasoned & roasted, perfectly cooked, and an expression of love.

Maraschino Cherries

2009-05-27T16:56:00.000-07:00

Cherry made merry in brandy.

I had a revelation when a friend informed me that she had been fed a real maraschino cherry at her high class restaurant job. A few nights later I dumped half a cup of juicy cherries into a glass jar with some brandy and waited overnight. In the morning they were still just cherries. Bah! So I did some online research and discovered that only one step was keeping me from the ultimate fruit and booze combo. Here is my version:

1/2 cup brandy (I use Mr. Boston Blackberry Brandy)
2 heaping tablespoons of sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 heaping cup of cherries, washed and stems removed

Bring the first six ingredients to a boil, stirring to dissolve. Add the cherries, lower heat to medium and let bubble for 7 minutes. Cool and store in a glass jar for up to 2 weeks.

Its true, the syrup tastes a little like cough syrup, but the cherries are magic. Perfect for the top of a very adult sundae, or other mind-boggling yet to be had recipes. I think next time I'll try more of a cognac thing, which may require more sugar. Mr. Boston Brandy is darn sweet.

sun moon stars heavenly spice cookies

2009-05-17T17:15:00.000-07:00

No recipe here just a shot of Mrs. Rampulla's molded, delicious, tender ginger cookies as presented at her daughter's (Andrea Anne Andy Rose Rampulla now Greenlee) bridal shower held this weekend in Kutztown, PA.

berry crumble from a mumbler

2009-05-10T11:49:00.000-07:00

Sweet bursting are coming to the grocery stores. I made this crumble (too lazy to make a crust) based loosely on Bon Appetite's Mixed-Berry pie recipe this month. It was a grand and not-too-heavy ending to a wonderful catfish dinner.

1 quart strawberries
1 pint blueberries
1 pint blackberries
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon blackberry brandy (optional)
Juice of 1 medium lemon

Zest of 1 medium lemon
Zest of 1 orange
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons cold butter
1/4 teaspoon ginger powder
1/8 teaspoon almond flavoring

cold water

1/2 cup whole raw almonds, chopped coarsely

Preheat oven to 375. Wash berries and add to a 9x9 baking dish. Mix in next four ingredients, and bake in oven for 25 minutes, and remove from over

Add the next 8 ingredients in a food-processor to make the streusel-like topping. Pulse until ingredisnets form a medium crumb. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time until large loose crumbs form. Stop before the mix becomes sticky. Fold in chopped almonds.

Sprinkle topping over the half baked fruit. Put back in stove and cook for another 45 minutes, or until top is browned. You may want to put a baking sheet under the dish in the oven, to catch splattering berry juice. Cool at least one hour. Definitely serve with ice cream. Feeds 4-6.

Somthing Simple for Breakfast

2009-05-10T11:34:00.000-07:00

Its easier to get your hands on a single potato then a slice of bread for my one slice of toast morning carb fix. Homefries have a much stronger satisfaction level. An approach to making perfectly cooked brown on the outside creamy on the inside potatoes is better than a recipe, and here goes:

oil/fresh bacon grease (enough to generously fill a skillet)
1 small-medium tater
salt
pepper
red pepper flakes

- cube the potato into 1/2" cubes, smaller is okay, not bigger!
(if you want to cook up some bacon now is a good time to start while soaking)
- fill a pot with cold water and soak the cubes 5-10 min, to remove excess starch
- drain and pat with a towel
- Heat 9" or larger skillet on medium high so oil/bacon fat is talking and spitting
- throw in the cubes, season, turn to coat
- do not touch those tatoes, put a lid on and let steam for 3 minutes
- remove lid, turn, and then don't touch, another 3-4 cooking without the lid, repeat until all sides are brown
- eat, or in my case add hot sauce and eat!

Serves 1-2. If you increase the servings, you must use a bigger skillet. Good contact with the pan makes for nice browning. These are the skills, practice, enjoy, and impress your brunch happy friends.

Roasted Pineapple Salsa

2009-05-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

Nothing says its the weekend like having the time to buy, peel, slice, and roast a pineapple. Not like I'm as efficient as this lady, but I have technique.

Roasted Pineapple Salsa

1 big pineapple
(test ripeness by smelling the very bottom looking for a fresh pineapple smell)
1 medium red onion, diced
1 jalapeno, finely diced, keep seeds for extra heat
1 bunch cilantro or curly parsley, chopped
1 juice & zest of 1 lemon
1 juice & zest of 1 lime
salt and pepper
dash of olive oil

Peel and core your pineapple. Slice into 1/4" pieces and scatter onto a broiler pan. Broil for 7-10 minutes, or until beginning to blacken. A grill would be best if you have it. Allow to cool and chop into bite size piece. Add all ingredients into a bowl and let sit for about 10 minutes before eating.

Eat it with chips, or as a side for shrimp, pork or broiled tofu. I put mine with some black eyed peas.

grapefruit and romaine

2009-04-23T14:30:00.000-07:00

I pretty much eat the same things every week. Whats fresh and whats on sale are often the same through a month, and contribute to how I pick my food. Grapefruit(first bright red in January and dulled down to the whitish kind now) have been 5 for $2. I eat them right out of the peel like an orange.

This evening called for something different. I wanted to finish off the morning's half grapefruit and get some salad in me before my basketball game. The following simple salad pleased and refreshed in a modern way:

1 grapefruit, quartered, peel sliced off, and roughly chopped
6 big leaves off romaine lettuce
1 tablespoon flax seed meal
1/4 tsp kosher salt
2 drizzles of olive oil

Put everything in a bowl and toss! Feeds 2. If you can cut up the grapefruit in you hands over the bowl, your salad will benefit from the juicy drippings.

Pink and Pickeled

2009-04-19T13:36:00.000-07:00

A mini-dinner party this month highlighted a new winning side dish. Pickled onions! Easy, pretty and tasty. I didn't have to even explain to guests how to eatem. They were devoured. I've been topping salads and beans with the leftover pickling juice. Incredible.

Make em this way:

1 medium red onion, thinly sliced into half moons
1 jalapeno pepper, quartered length-wise, use seeds for a super kick, or leave out
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar

Put all the ingredients in a glass jar. Close tightly with lid. Shake vigorously. Place in fridge at least 12 hours before serving. Serve!

The onions should keep for a few weeks. I used them as an accompaniment to kabobs. The pickled gems would be good with anything. Try: on a sandwich or burger, next to pork, on top of steamed veggies, with your rice and beans, garnishing a dip, in some slaw, or 1000s of undiscovered places.

eat a burrito

2008-12-21T17:47:00.000-08:00

Next year might be build your own burrito. I think "make your own ___" went over really well.

Run down

2008-12-21T14:33:00.000-08:00

Chris demands you pay attention to the pizza rules
Carey and Andrew dutifully do

I've been lazy about the dinner party. I've been more interested in going to holiday parties and removing the smell of cured pork before uploading photos this week. Sadly I did not take enough. Maybe they are being uploaded to facebook pages. Mine came out blurry and over saturated. Bah, whats important is the huge clash of friends and food. People had countless amazed reactions. I am grateful. I aim to please the crowd.

Pizza station, 29 toppings, no exaggeration!

Food really piled high this year. I had to come up with a system to organize everything. I built shelves, and labeled cups with all 30ish toppings. E.g. caramelized onions don't looks so appetizing if you don't know what they are. I even, somewhat obsessively, printed out directions and posted them above the table. Dough stretching instructions seemed more confusing then helpful. I wanted to add illustrations, but time ran low. I hovered near here half the night, to give advice. A few occasions I jumped in and pulled pies. Most people had trouble, but everyone had fun. I also constructed my dream pizza. BBQ sauce, pulled pork, red onions, sweet potatoes, and cheese. Damn.

Multi-tiered platters in the "side/appetizer room".
This was a really popular room. People kept saying "This is the 3rd time I
filled up my plate, and I already ate 2 pizzas..." One pal described it as
"gorging herself like a baby whale"

I thought I would keep sides simple, but that's just not how I roll. Its always fascinating to see what people do and don't like. Here is a list of things people really really like: Artichoke dip, Butter beans with celery and fennel, pineapple, grapes, salami, brie and cheddar cheese, carrots, and cut peppers, stuffed peppers, barley risotto. Okay so that's like almost all the food, but I can tell they really like that food, because people barely touch stuff like: cumin flavored gouda cheese, pesto dip and hummous, zucchini bread, the jello mold (granted it looked awful) the toffee, roasted fennel. People like the pizzas!

Dessert was out of control. Everyone brought it, and no one ate it! I gave away 90% of a cheese cake, and an entire red velvet cake. I brought a boat load of ice cream sandwiches to an office. Vegan ganache torte with apricots and almonds went over extremely well. It could have been a dessert party, nauseating. I really think this is getting skipped from now on. Just a few sweets on the side.

I'm relieved this is done. I had a real weekend, and kicked up my heels all week. I will say I am terribly pleased with the following dishes: spiced pecans, fig jam, roasted fennel, cracked pepper focaccia, and the pulled pork. Throw in some spinach and chick peas to that list, and I might never need another food for the rest of my life.

picked over and gone

2008-12-18T18:28:00.001-08:00

The very reason for this blog is over. It happened after a long slow week of cooking, which nearly made me want to forget food forever, and then in a very quick blur of a dinner party. It was fun, it was nearly worth it. I know everyone who came had a blast. The morning after the party I woke up in a cheese/banana pepper/salami scented bedroom, which officially made me want to forget about food. I am still living in filthy chaos. Food was put away, and pots scrubbed, but my floors are sticky under mixed up furniture.

I have too much food left, and its causing problems. Around 10-15 guests didn't show. Monday-Wednesday felt like an endless feast of leftovers, but now things are spoiling. I anticipated this a little, and sent food home with guests, brought 7 lbs of salami and 15 lbs of dessert to work, and froze some for a different day. Still I feel like I could pay more attention to whats happening in the fridge. I feel disrespectful trashing food. I will have to turn whats left into soup.

Miracle Pork

2008-12-12T11:41:00.001-08:00

Come over, you are invited to eat this!

Last night two miracles happened. I was cooking the pulled pork. It did not take 2-3 hours. I gave it 4 hours, shut the heat, and left it in the oven to cook in the residual heat. I thought I would deal with it after I came back from a tiny bit of celebrating for a friend's birthday. After 3-4 hours I returned to luscious pork smells. Entering my apartment I heard the oven creak! Holy sweet jello! I left the oven on the entire time I was out, and at 450 degrees!! I ran to the oven, pulled the pork out of its foil packet, covered in hot boiling fat. That's when I realized two miracles had happened:

1) It a miracle that the fat did not catch on fire and burn down my home
2) Inside the foil was a perfect deep crusted amazingly tender piece of pulled pork, that slipped gently apart from the bone. It tastes heavenly, and I consider it a good omen.

No really its edible, and tender, and perfect, it only took 7.5 hours.

Evenly Brown

2008-12-11T15:47:00.000-08:00

Today is day two of cooking for the party. Before this is was mostly prep (making dough, seasonings, chopping, buying). Friday and Saturday include very heavy cooking, and Sunday, a bunch of warming up.

So far everything is turning out brown. The rich mission fig jam is super dark with sweet almost smokey flavor that could easily land in the umami class of flavors. I made an almond crust for my vegan apricot and ganache torte, a light brown. I have pulled pork in the oven now, which is finicky and taking a long time, a crisp brown. Toffee, is toffee brown. Spiced pecans, spicy maroon.

I made a laughable muddy-orange jello molded salad. I decided to take a family classic, molded cranberry, and using some beautiful apples and pears. The fruit quickly oxidized in the food processor, and the peach jello went mucky when it all came together. It tastes lovely, but I'm not sure anyone will be brave enough to try it. It looks a little bit like garbage. I wonder if I can cover it...ready-whip maybe??

can of sardines

2008-12-07T13:01:00.000-08:00

Set on my rugs, propped up on stacks of storage bins, and
covered with tablecloths the seating looks inviting.

Table and chair situation is this: I have almost none. My 2 large tables are devoted to the prep area. I only own 2 folding chairs, one office chair, and 2 designer easy chairs. No couch! No futon! I live alone, so I have rooms with empty floor. The guests will have to sit on the rugs.

This sunday I went to Lowes to purchase plywood sheets to act as tables to sit around floor-style. My empty room/2nd bedroom/studio is 11 x 16 ft. I wanted 2 rows of narrow tables. I was aiming for 28 x 120 inches, seating the max amount of people and with room to move around. Well there aren't service people working in lumber on a Sunday at Lowes to cut wood. I had to compromise with 4 pre-cut 2x4 ft sheets. I'm guessing up to 12 people can sit at each table. The rest will have to stand, sit on my bed, or if they are lucky, snag a folding chair.

food shapes and food trips

2008-12-07T12:37:00.000-08:00

Its starting to be hard to keep this blog with all the shopping, prep, and cooking to do. I certainly have not blogged all the food I prepared last week. Its hard to stop in the middle of cooking to snap photos. I cook really really fast. Last week alone I made focaccia dough, spiced pecans, candied orange peels, maple almond toffee, chocolate chocolate cookie dough for ice cream sandwiches, bbq sauce, and finished off the last few batches of pizza dough. I also went to shopping for food and supplies 5 times, to over 8 stores. I am constantly in motion and on top of my schedule. Most of the food only needs to be prepped, with less cooking than other years. I am grateful for my cuisnart's chopping, shredding, and grating attachments. All of the fresh vegetable based foods get made this last week, so everything tastes the way it should.

The menu has shaped up:

-----starting-----
Cheese and fresh and dried fruit plate
spiced nuts
sugared tangerine peels
bacon wrapped figs
pesto, red pepper hummous, and artichoke dips
crudites
fresh baked breads
-----eating-----
fresh made pizza dough with a huge assortment of toppings including: roasted vegetables, artichokes, olives, arugula, caramelized onions, sweet potatoes,seasoned tofu, chicken sausage, pulled pork, bacon, prosciutto, dried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, homemade tomato sauce, pesto, bbq sauce, tons of cheese, and more....
-------plus--------
side salads of sorts
-------drinking-------
home steeped limoncello
hot cider
many fabulous concoctions of the season
juice and sodas
beer and wine
-------and--------
the famous Donabedian dessert plate of decadence, which I request people contribute to.

Thin Crust Breafast

2008-11-30T13:32:00.000-08:00

Finished breakfast pizzas, and perfectly browned crust. Very excellent.

I'm saving my appetite for red sauced pizzas. Currently I have taste for something different, breakfast pizza. A multi-layered savory meal of breakfast champions. I even got Patrick, the Breakfast Captain, whom I am grateful for and constantly impressed by, to lend his experience:

3 small potatoes, diced
leftover stuffing from Thanksgiving, optional
4 strips of bacon
4 eggs overeasy, or cooked to your liking
1/8th of pizza dough recipe, divided (from previous post)
cheddar cheese
salt, pepper, and hot sauce to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Place bacon on a cookie sheet. Bake about 20 minutes until crunchy, flipping half way. Meanwhile, brown potatoes on all sides in a pan, about 15 minutes. Add stuffing and cook another minute or two. Set aside. The smell is good, and everyone is waking up to breakfast aromas, so send em out to get you coffee. Next crack 2 eggs at a time in a hot pan sprayed heavily with pam. A special trick from the breakfast captain: spray the top of the eggs with pam before flipping. Your overeasy eggs won't stick, and if you are good, won't break. Repeat with the next two eggs. Keep it all warm.

Cooking bacon on a cookie sheet intensifies the bacon flavor.
Captain Breakfast takes his bacon however he can get it.

The cap stretches dough. Not an easy morning task.

Stretch out pizza doughs to make something like a circle, or rectangle, or something in between. Layer on your breakfast goods. Start with the cheese, for a nice melty base that will adhere the potatoes on the next layer. Top with bacon strips, the eggs, and more cheese (more cheese is optional). Pop it in the oven, take a sip of coffee, and wait 15-20 minutes. This is a laborious recipe, but hot damn, its the best breakfast treat when ready.

crust is a must

2008-11-30T13:00:00.000-08:00

Pizza dough, looks harmless but contains powerful
raising agents, that could easily destroy any kitchen.

Think about food over Thanksgiving? I did. I read up on pizza dough, 6-8 different variations. It came down to 2: The Frugal Gourmet and the Best Recipe Cook Book's. Best Recipe took the prize for explaining all the possible problems I might encounter.

Here tis' the master dough recipe for 4 medium pizzas:

1/2 cup 105 degree water
1 envelop of yeast (I actually order a European bulk kind, extra springy yeast)
1 1/4 cup room temp. water
2 tablespoon olive oil
4 cups bread flour (really better then the cheap kind, and I use King Arthur)
1 1/2 teaspoon salt

To summarize, you put the yeast in the 105 water, and wait until it blooms, then add the rest of the water and oil. Pulse flour and salt in a food processor, and add in most of the liquids to form a ball of dough. Continue to pulse 30 seconds. Scrape onto a floury flat place, knead a couple of turns into a ball. Place in an oiled, warm bowl and let rise 2 hours, until doubled. Then you punch it, and make pizza. Or freeze it for you party a few weeks a away. My yeast was so springy, that my dough erupted out of the freezer quart bags. That yeast was going somewhere. Glad I caught it, punched it some more, and re-sealed the bags.

I found the food processor technique extremely convenient. The batch was almost too big for the motor of my cuisinart. It dimmed the lights and made horrible sounds. I came together fast, and the dough was very smooth. I had some trouble with the liquid. Its easy to add too much and create super sticky and gloppy dough. Gloppiness can be remedied with a little messy and floury kneading.

I made 5 batches of dough in 1 hour, before rising time. Very easy, but I don't
own so many mixing bowls, and had to use my pots and pans for rising.

I am making a total of 7 batches for 40ish medium to small pizzas. I fear that each batch will vary a touch, as my measuring isn't scientific. I made some experimental pizzas to know if the dough was right. Its soft inside and crispy out, with nice flavor. I am pleased. Time to practice throwing dough around.

Save the Date: re-Scheduled

2008-11-17T05:35:00.000-08:00

Whats a dinner party blog, without a dinner party? Unforeseen family circumstances have caused me to reschedule the Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner Party until after Thanksgiving! A new twist. It will be the Post-Thanksgiving (Pre-Christmas & Hanuka) Dinner Party. Same food, and I hope, same wonderful guests. New date December 14th, a Sunday.

Details to come!

update — limoncello

2008-10-27T18:00:00.000-07:00

I'm on to the final phase of my limoncello. Its smells like a lemon orchard full of lemonade stands. Can't wait.

Pumpkin Prize

2008-10-23T17:01:00.000-07:00

Cookies all wrapped up for hungry vegans. My kitchen table was not styled for this photo. I actually keep fruit and flowers around. They come from my CSA share.

Below 60 degrees on the thermometer my stomach wants to extra helpings. It wants baked goods too. Its no exactly time to start cooking for the dinner party, but I'm excited for pumpkin. I made a big dish of pumpkin pie. Minus the crust and half the sugar, its a pretty healthy breakfast food.

Last weekend I went further into the pumpkin patch. I bought some pre-halved pumpkins from the fruit stand near flatbush. Coated in oil and cinnamon I baked it for about 1 hour at 400 degrees. Let it cool, and stand overnight to strain some water, and pureed. Next up, bake vegan chocolate chip cookies for my favorite vegan. This is my best vegan cookie success story. My pumpkin prize cookies came out crisp on the outside, and light on the inside. I don't know how to make a chewy vegan cookie yet. Alterations include adding 1/2 teaspoon of cornstarch (improves texture) and reducing the soda and powder to 3/4. Oh and I switched nutmeg to allspice, but the finished cookie isn't all too spicy.

Still on a kick, I've been eating pumpkin out of the can. Its the only thing in my fridge except kale. I may decide to forget about roasting and pureeing my own gourds for good. Its time consuming. A 29oz can of pumpkin puree is $2. Compared to a 1 lb at $1.50 whole, store beats scratch.

limoncello for fellows

2008-09-28T18:40:00.001-07:00

I emptied my bourbon (hey hey into another bottle, not into my stomach) to use for the limonello steeping. I didn't have another glass jar large enough.

When I was a kid my brother and I used to get grow-a-frog kits for Christmas. You get a tadpole and a little tank. If you are lucky, it grows into a frog. For my birthday this year my brother sent me a limoncello recipe, and a set of glasses. Its with the same patience for tadpole legs that I wait for lemon peel and heavy duty vodka to turn into sweet sipping limoncello. It should be simple, like nature.

The recipe goes like this: pour 1/5 of 100 proof vodka into a 1 gallon glass jar along with the rinds of 15 fresh lemons (no pith!), and wait 10 - 40 days. Add another 1/5 of 100 proof vodka and simple syrup (4 cups sugar mixed with 5 cups water, boiled 8 minutes) and wait another 10 - 40 days. Strain and drink or bottle. You then have a product vastly, and affordably, superior to regular vodka.

Every now and then I take the bottle out and shake shake shake it. Not for any good reason, but the rind already makes a pretty color.

I'm on the first step, and 11 days in. My limoncello lurks in my closet, where it is cool and dark. I stumped all of the clerks at the 3 liquor stores I visited to locate 100 proof vodka. I even accidentally bought a bottle of 100% vodka. Whoops, is there even such a think as a vodka blend? I blame bad label editors.

Tomato Adventure

2008-09-24T17:57:00.000-07:00

I threaten myself with food adventures and stunts to keep me fresh. Constantly. Plan a BBQ, make jerky, decorate with fondant, churn butter, dehydrate fruit, go on a raw food diet. Mostly I entertain the thoughts. Canning is something I've been curious about. The country mouse inside my head reminds me that winter is coming, and the local tomatoes at the market are huge.

I want to make the accoutriments to this year's party in advance. Bon Appétit's October issue has a great mulit-page illustrated tutorial on canning. It took 2 weeks to pull it together, but here is the a quasi-real time break down of my first canning adventure:

Supplies:
A week in advance I started looking for the supplies: quart mason jars and lids, a basic set of tools (funnel, jar gripper, an unsophisticated but helpful magnet on a stick for grabbing hot lids,) a tall stock pot with a rack for the bottom.

I live in New York City. Canning is not too popular and Broadway Panhandler and Zabar's are out of my way & out of the supplies I needed. I ordered online from distributors in my area to save on shipping, and save me a few trips. The Bowery strip of restaurant suppliers provided my super shiny 14" aluminum stock pot to manage quart size mason jars. I never found a jar rack for the cans, so I improvised with a vented pie plate, turned upside down.

Ingredients:
The recipe came from the same bon appétit for fresh tomato sauce. I talked to every tomato selling farmer at the Union Square Market to locate my bounty. Some sold soft or second tomatoes at a discount, between $1.50 and $4.00. One generous farmer sold me a big 30 lb box for $20! A serious score. I bought some fresh shallots, and herbs to go along. I setteled for plain-old store bought lemon concentrate from the grocery. Acidity levels are key in preventing botulism. Hauling the tomatoes back to Brooklyn was a trial, but its probably faster then making several small trips, or even carrying proportionate amounts of sauce. Everything that went in the sauce (minus a little sugar and salt) was fresh and organic.

The steps:
It took from 3 to 8.30 pm to make and process the sauce. I was boiling water the whole time. Not bad considering I got 7 quarts from my 30 lb of tomatoes, with about 6 lbs extra for more tomatoey adventures I have yet to plan.

Everything has to be washed and boiled, before it gets canned and boiled again. There is a huge excess of water used for the whole canning program.

While jars boil I had time to peel the 40 or so tomatoes. To peel the tomatoes, I plunged them in more boiling water for 5 seconds. The skins really do slip right off.

Then I quartered, seeded, and chopped. By this point I just want to get on with the cooking, but these steps are important to quality. My entire sink was filled with tomato seeds.

Hot stuff on the stove top. I ended up making the sauce in 3 batches. After the sauce was cooked I decided to puree it in my food processor. I made a huge amount of dishes doing all of this, which requires lots of water to clean, sigh.

The next step isn't photographed. Its the step when I pulled the jars out of boiling water and filled them with boiling sauce before closing and returning them to the boiling water. Not a good time to stop and take photos.

Finished product. All of my lids sealed, and it was such a relif. The picture doesn't capture it, but the sauce boiled inside the jars for almost an hour after they came out of the water. They remain a very pretty vermilion color. My stove top was a splattered and burned brownish red color with hints of black.

Pizza Amore

2008-09-22T16:58:00.000-07:00

About a week before the last year's dinner I realized that everyone had rsvp'd positively for themselves plus extra company. I started getting panicky, and I sent out lines for help. A guy I was dating made himself available every hour of every day. He was ready to drive anywhere for supplies, shape potato pancakes, chop onions, strain stock, take out trash, anything.

I was glad for this help, but wasn't feeling swept away by the romance. The day before (a 14-16 hour prep day in the kitchen) the guy and I decided to order a pizza on break. I remember him looking at me amorously while we waited for the delivery guy, and I remember my nerves snapping. I spontaneously broke up with him on the spot, before the pizza arrived. He stuck around and ate a slice before leaving. The leftover pizza was given to the next set of helping hands. It was nicknamed "the heartbreak pizza" for its place in my relationship.

This year I am challenged (only by myself) to maintain the tradition of generous quantities of food. Rather then spending all together too much time sweating and breaking my back in the kitchen I decided this year will be make-your own damn pizza and antipasto. One food with endless combinations. Advance plans to pickle and jar my own vegetables and sauce are on their way. Simplified, I provide, you decide. It will be more fun. Everyone helps. It will help clear my conscious and palate of the heartbreak pizza.

extra note: Does The New Yorker read my mind? Sometimes yes.