Chefdruck Musings

Unexpected Magic at the Great Wolf Lodge

2010-01-01T22:22:00.002-05:00

Today we woke up in 2010 with a heavy heart. After two wonderful weeks full of little girl laughter, sisters blogging side by side, and long leisurely dinners late into the night, it was time for everyone to say goodbye. We dug through the house to find all the dolls and socks strewn in far flung corners and piled everyone in the minivan one last time to make the drive to Cincinnati.

Two hours later, we exchanged last hugs at the terminal and turned them over to the joys of newly heightenned security checks. Instead of turning around and driving two hours back to our deserted house in Columbus, we decided to turn our sad parting into an exciting adventure by spending the night at the Great Wolf Lodge.

I'd been intrigued by the frequent radio ads for "the Lodge" with their deep baritone, but had thought the kids were too young to really enjoy an indoor water park. But now that two out of three are comfortable swimmers, I finally felt ready to give it a try.

I'll do a full review over at Chefdruck Reviews later this weekend once we're home, but so far, we're having a great time and have successfully diverted any sadness. The kids were thrilled by the little bunk bed cabin in our room and they, unlike me, were not deterred by the chilly water of the indoor water park. They went around and around the lazy river until their lips were dark blue.

Unexpectedly, the most fun was had outside of the pool, running through the halls of the hotel with magic wands looking for clues as part of an unbelievably elaborate magic quest. I balked at the price tag ($14.99 for a wand plus a ridiculous $9.99 "activation fee") but I have to admit that it was worth the expense as the entire hotel is filled with portraits that come to life and chests that come open with a slow creak to reveal dazzling jewels. The scavenger hunt was so clever and had so many levels that I saw many pimply teenagers running flushed looking for clues to become "master magi."

I don't think I could handle more than one night here. The crowds, the noise, and the pervasive faint whiff of chlorine are not exactly relaxing. But I'm sure this one night will live on in the kids' memory for a long long time.

New Year's Eves Past and Present

2009-12-31T18:46:00.000-05:00

New Year's Eve used to be a sparkly affair, in crowded bars and packed parties. I would select my sheer black tights and shimmering dress weeks in advance before carefully blowing out my hair for the big night. As the sun set on the last day of the year, I would step out to meet my girlfriends, full of nervous anticipation over whether I would have someone to kiss at midnight, and whether I would be starting the new year with the promise of new love.

Now my New Year's Eves are cozy affairs, snuggled up on the couch watching the ball drop with rooms of sleeping children above my head. My outfit is dull, but comfortable: fleece sweats selected on the fly in my slow progression to the den.

My New Year's Eve may now be short on the promise of romance and intrigue, but my midnight's kiss is guaranteed, along with a breakfast feast to start the year off right.

Certainly a much better way to greet a new decade than with a hangover and a heart full of disappointment over another lonely new year's toast.

Whether you're greeting 2010 amongst fancy revelers or with the help of Ryan Seacrest from the comfort of your couch, I wish you a very happy new year!

Life Cycle Completed. We apologize for any inconvenience.

2009-12-30T11:58:00.001-05:00

Genius strikes at the most random times. I was walking along the hypnotizing maze of the Cincinnati aquarium when, out of nowhere, this sign appeared. It acknowledges death without apology, without lying, without mincing words.

The octopus has completed its life cycle and will soon be replaced.

I'm not sure if I'm in a morbid state of mind, if I've overdosed on Christmas carols and kids home for break, but I thought this was great.

Happy Wordful, Wordless and Way-back wednesday!

Foie Gras, our Once a Year Indulgence

2009-12-29T23:21:00.000-05:00

It's been so hectic that I haven't had a minute to blog about Christmas eve, our biggest, most outlandish, most extravagant meal of the year. Christmas in our family has always meant marathon feasts. As a child in France, we alternated Christmas dinner between our house and my aunt's house. Every year, the host family would try to outdo last year's meal, an undisguised rivalry that yielded great dividends for all attending. My mother would tend to focus on top-notch sides and appetizers while my aunt and her husband usually raised the bar with exotic main courses like suckling pig and whole venison. After one gruesome vision of a discarded antler on the kitchen counter one night, I learned to stay put at the table and focus on the dinner in front of me.

Now that my sisters and I live in the States, we still go all out for Christmas eve, cooking all the dishes we enjoyed as kids during the Reveillon de Noel and many American ones that we've added to the roster.

There are many items that make the menu every year. We always begin with a few appetizer courses like freshly shucked oysters and smoked salmon toasts before moving on to turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and carrot souffle. And we always conclude with a chocolatey Buche de Noel (yule tide log) for dessert. But if you were to ask any of my sisters which is the one item that represents Christmas dinner for them, I know without the shadow of a doubt that they would all answer: Foie Gras.

We each begin our feast with one generous slice of rich, savory Foie Gras terrine. Many Americans don't understand the appeal of foie gras. When I mention how much I crave this expensive treat, they ask, "What's the big deal? Is it pate? Why is it so good? Why is it so expensive?" I certainly don't want to go into the disturbing process of how Foie Gras is made in this post. It's one of those things I've chosen not to dwell too much on. You can call me shallow, you can call me cruel, but I won't give up my Foie Gras, even if they have outlawed it in Chicago.

In years past, we've ordered our foie gras terrine from D'Artagnan, and waited breathlessly for the next day air delivery of the terrine packed in dry ice. But for the last couple of years, we've been disappointed with their foie gras, finding it lacking in seasoning and salt. So this year, I bought a raw lobe at the North Market Poulty and and Game stand, and made my own terrine.

Even with my mother at my side, I was pretty terrified to fool around with such expensive ingredients. Our raw foie gras cost over a hundred dollars, and I didn't want to be the one to ruin the cornerstone of our meal. But thanks to my mother's experience, and the clear instructions of the French recipe site 750 Grammes, our foie gras was as wonderful as we'd hoped, and it was surprisingly easy to make.

Foie Gras Terrine
Ingredients
1 pound of raw foie gras (duck or goose)
5 oz of salt
2 teaspoons of pepper
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
6 teaspoons of a sweet wine such as Sauternes

Submerge the lobes in room temperature water for an hour.
Remove the lobes, dry them, and place them on a cutting board. Separate them. Make three slits in each lobe and delicately remove the dark nerves. These will be very obvious as the bulk of the liver will be yellow, and the nerve will be dark and bloody. Remove as many of the veins as possible. Don't worry too much about cutting up the liver as it will melt back together while baking.
Place the cleaned livers in a terrine. Press down on them with the palm of your hand and cover with the salt, pepper, sugar, and wine. Put the terrine in the fridge to macerate for 12 hours.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
Boil some water and pour water in a large shallow oven-safe dish.
Place the terrine in the simmering water (in a bain Marie), this will ensure even cooking. Place the terrine in the water dish in the oven and cook for 30 minutes. The foie will have shrunk down by 1/2 inch by then.
Remove from the water bath and let the foie cool at room temperature for 3 hours.
Weigh down the foie with a cardboard covered with foil topped with some cans to really push it down. Place it in the fridge for 24 hours to finish the process.
Your foie gras is now ready to eat with some toasted brioche or challah bread.

The Giant Let's Bring in 2010 Right Giveaway

2009-12-28T12:38:00.000-05:00

the GIANT 2010 GIVEAWAY

This Christmas was all about family and fun, but as far as my blogging went, it was also all about overcommitment. Instead of prescheduling my 12 days of giveaways, like a wise mommy blogger, I assumed that I would have time to fit them in to the holiday craziness.

But that was not the case. And half of my 12 days of giveaways are now going to be reborn as a celebration of procrastination... a giant Bring in the New Year 2010 Giveaway.

Seven prizes... three toys, three books, and one gorgeous lithograph... seven entertainment options to arm yourself for the cold winter months... seven chances to start the year off with luck.

So without further ado, here's the round up.

a Charge Large Board Game
a Tadoodles Scribble and Sing Art Station
a Crayola Lights, Camera, Color 64 box complete with access code to the Lights, Camera, Color website to print up your pictures to color
the Art of Racing in the Rain Novel
Close Encounters of the Third-Grade Kind: Thoughts on Teacherhood
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Devotional Stories for Women: 101 Daily Devotions to Comfort, Encourage and Inspire Women
a Norah Jones Lithograph The Fall Album Cover

Each of these items has been reviewed over at Chefdruck Reviews or here in an earlier post. I will select seven winners two weeks from today, on Friday, January 8, 2010 and will contact each winner in order to have them select their prize of choice. Please leave a comment here with what you'd most like to win to be entered. You'll also get extra chances to win if:

you are a subscriber to either of my blogs,
if you tweet this contest,
post it to your facebook page,
or link to it on your blog.

Christmas Day: the Joys of Jamma All Day

2009-12-25T18:13:00.000-05:00

It's here. It's finally here.

Christmas Day. The finish line.

After all the running around, the list making, the shopping, the teacher gifting, the card writing, the cooking, the cleaning up, and the wrapping (til a bleary eyed 2:30AM), the sun rose on Christmas morning.

Well, to be truthful, the kids were up well before the sun rose, there's no need to get technical.

And as the kids danced around the beautiful tree, in a slow and glorious arc, like a giant tree falling in the forest, I plopped myself down on the couch. And I remained there for the rest of the day.

My work was done, and a long lazy pajama-all-day holiday was definitely in order.

I curled up on the couch with a pile of new books and a big box of See's Caramels and let go of all of that December stress in one long, blissful exhale.

Whether you celebrated Christmas today or just enjoyed a quiet day at home, I hope that you too had a chance to take that big long cleansing breath. And if you haven't yet, grab that spot on the couch. You deserve it.

Avatar: a Dream Come True

2009-12-24T01:05:00.002-05:00

When I walked out of the movie theater tonight after 3 gorgeous three dimensional hours of Avatar, I felt as though I was just waking up from a dream. And like really good dreams, I couldn't wait to fall back in it.

Do you remember when you saw Star Wars for the first time as a child? How it transported you to an amazing world, just clean lifted you out of your seats and made you fly through to a galaxy far, far away? Avatar does the exact same thing, has the exact same magical effect.

James Cameron has not been wasting his time in the last decade since he did Titanic. With the $230 million he spent writing and directing Avatar, he has raised the bar for Sci Fi movies and created the new golden standard. Avatar is nothing less than a masterpiece, a dazzling display of colors, creatures, and special effects. He has done nothing less than created a new world, a world I would to visit, even if only in my dreams.

From all of the marketing and the description of a movie with blue people, I sort of expected an animated movie. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Avatar is a regular film, and one that has a gripping and creative plot. Jake Sully is a crippled ex-marine who signs on to replace his brother as part of a science crew on six-year mission to the hostile, but mineral-rich, planet Pandera. His role is to operate an avatar in the image of the indigenous people. Soon, the line between his life as the physically fit avatar and his life as a wheelchair-confined soldier are blurred. There's plenty of parallels to be drawn between Avatar and the US involvement in the Middle East or with the US treatment of Native Americans, but you could just as easily enjoy the movie for the eye candy it offers.

Having the acting and the plot be captivating was an unexpected bonus. Avatar would have had me on the scenery and CGI people and animals alone, with their incredibly lifelike appearance and movements. And although this Sci Fi movie transports us far into the future on another planet with exotic fauna, it depicts nature so lovingly that it makes us want to take a better look at the nature around us.

Avatar shouldn't be limited to Sci Fi geeks alone. There is plenty of action to entertain the general theater going audience. But the violence is fairly tame, with no blood or swearing to be seen. There is also a love story, but no graphic sexuality. This movie was definitely designed as a family movie for older elementary school children. If your child has seen Star Wars movies, he will love Avatar, and you will have nothing to feel guilty about showing them.

If you can see Avatar on a 3D screen, this is definitely worth your while and the extra dollar or two per ticket. This is a world that you want to see in all the detail you possibly can.

I won't say any more about Avatar other than to say that I can't wait to see it again. This is a movie I want to experience on the big screen more than once.

I don't know if James Cameron's 3D bet will pay off, if there will be enough screens or enough audience willing to pay the premium for 3D tickets, but I'm betting that it will be as successful as Titanic and that it will grow and grow as word of mouth spreads. I know that I'm giddy telling you about it, and can't wait to hear your thoughts!

Nothing Better than a Snowy Treat

2009-12-23T12:34:00.000-05:00

Our house is filled with treats. There are our traditional Oreo balls. There is a big Halloween Pumpkin Bowl full of Carambars and Regalos candies brought by grandma Chanchan. There are boxes of Cheryl's Cookies brought home by Steve and even a huge gift basket filled with popcorn balls, chocolate pretzels, and chocolates.

But miraculously, instead the kids have been enjoying a sugar free treat. A very snowy sugar free treat.

And I have to agree with them. There's nothing better than a big snowball of pristine, white snow fresh from the sky. Tomorrow we can worry about acid rain and all the other things that could be polluting this special treat. Until then, we'll just keep gorging ourselves on these snowcones, thank you very much.

Happy Wordful, Wordless and Way-back wednesday!

Homemade Chicken Stock: How I Became a Chicken Carcasse Coveter

2009-12-22T06:26:00.000-05:00

My sisters walked into the kitchen a little after noon today, inquiring about a delicious smell wafting throughout the house. "Are you making a turkey? A chicken? For lunch? What's the occasion?"

Dinners during our holiday week are our big meals. Lunchtime is usually spent scavenging for leftovers. But today, we had a roasted chicken. It was delicious, but I had an ulterior motive, more sinister than feeding my brood.

I was after the chicken carcasse. I sound so calculating, almost like a serial killer, but it's what it's come to.

As of late, I've become addicted to the cheap luxury of homemade chicken stock. I use it in so many ways: to boil the kids' noodles, as a base for vegetable soup, and to make little sauces for any meat I pan sear. I love seeing that big container of stock in the fridge (and having bags of stock ice cubes stashed in the freezer as well), it's so promising, so inspiring.

As I make a roasted chicken most weeks, the fresh stock is really no added expense. And you won't believe how easy it is to make.

Homemade Chicken Stock
Ingredients:
1 Chicken Carcasse
2 carrots, peeled and chopped

1/2 an onion, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

After cutting off the meat to serve it to Steve and the kids, I simply throw the bare carcasse into a pot instead of in the garbage.
Then I add two peeled and chopped carrots, half a chopped onion and two chopped celery stalks.
I fill the pot with water, give it a good boil for an hour or so, and my stock is good to go.
It's a good idea to strain it before transferring it to a Tupperware.
It will keep in your fridge for about a week. In the freezer for a couple of months.

Go ahead, try it next time. But be careful, you'll soon be coveting carcasses just like me. Once you've experienced the clean taste of your own homemade stock, you'll be looking differently at the supermarket stuff.

The Gang's All Here

2009-12-21T23:23:00.000-05:00

Tonight the fun really began. My family has been arriving in waves since last Thursday, culminating in my mother's arrival tonight after a long flight from France to Cincinnati. When families are splintered from divorce, it's impossible to ever say that the entire family is all together, but tonight felt that way. Tonight we felt complete because it was the first night in two years that my mother was under the same roof as her three daughters and all her grandchildren.

Just being able to wrap my arms around my sisters and my mom filled me with warmth. No phones. No Skyping. No email. No texting. No oceans or time zones separating us. It was a good feeling.

The kids were happy too. Our tradition is to wait until everyone has arrived to decorate our tree. It often sits for close to two weeks, a tall green unadorned tease. Finally tonight they let loose, running to my mom to hear her stories of the ornaments their mothers used to play with as children and then reverently placing them on the tree.

The gang is finally all here. Let the festivities begin.

More on that Naughty Elf

2009-12-20T19:52:00.001-05:00

I didn't dare to believe in the power of the elf that other moms raved about.

Our elf has been busy since we first welcomed him into our home. After his nightly visits to the North Pole to report back to Santa on the kids' behavior, he's settled back in every corner of the house. The kids race around the house first thing every morning to see where he's chosen to hide out for the day. I wake up to peels of delight when they finally discover him. And as Steve and I are usually half-asleep when we move him, even I am somewhat surprised by where he turns up.

For the most part, he's been pretty mellow on the mischief category, but he has had his moments. The other morning I was shampooing my head when I spotted him high in the corner of my shower, the little peeping elf. I guess even an old mom like me is more action than he's seen up in the North Pole. The other night, he barricaded Bella in her room with a mountain of pillows. And then tonight, he took down all the candy canes the kids had hung up on the Christmas tree and made himself a little bouquet.

But to me, the most amazing piece of magic he's worked has been seeing all the jaded toughness melt away from Bella's face every time she recounts one of his exploits. For a few minutes she looks like an eight-year old should, bright eyed and full of wonder over the magic of Christmas.

Only three more nights for this little guy to shine... I have a feeling he's going to be kicking it up into high gear.

Tonight's Sunday Scribblings prompt is DARE. My little elf helper inspired me. See how others used the prompt.

Ambrosia Wine Giveaway

2009-12-19T13:30:00.000-05:00

My family has begun arriving for our Christmas marathon of quality time. The house is filled with the happy bustle of reunions. The kids have taken over the basement and run up every once in a while, all dressed up as princesses, doctors, and knights to invite the adults to elaborate productions. And we adults have taken up our position around the kitchen table where we will remain for the duration. Why go anywhere else when we have so much to catch up on, fun snacks to pick at, and the wine is flowing freely?

This relaxed hanging out is my favorite part of the holidays. Good wine, good conversation, board games, and puzzles. That's what it's all about.

Today for giveaway, I have one Home for the Holidays package from Ambrosia Wines. This $89.99 selection of 6 bottles of handcrafted wines is the perfect assortment to make your holiday gatherings a success. It includes a 2007 St Supery Napa Sauvignon Blanc, a 2006 Lost Shore, Langhorne Creek Malbec from South Australia, a Calixte Brut Cremant d'Alsace, a 2006 Whitehall Lane Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, a 2006 Bellecourt Chenas, Beaujolais, and a 2006 Paseo Reserve, Carmenere, unfiltered from Maule Valley in Chile.

I'll be choosing the winner at random among the comments on December 25. To be entered to win, leave a comment here with your favorite holiday drink. You'll get extra chances to win if:

you are a subscriber to either of my blogs,
if you tweet this contest,
post it to your facebook page,
or link to it on your blog.

I also have a coupon for 20% off Ambrosia Wines orders for my readers. Just enter adultsCHEF20 at checkout. It's a great place to get some last minute gifts like the Dark and Divine X Winery Gift set ($29.99) and Boldly Complex White Duo ($39.99).

Please note that Ambrosia Wine can only ship wine to the following states: AK, CA, DC, FL, IL, LA, MO, NE, NH, NV, ND, NM, OH, OR, TN, WV, WY.

Good luck, and don't forget to enter my other 12 days of giveaways!

Holiday Road Rage... our encounter with a madwoman

2009-12-18T13:55:00.000-05:00

It must have been a potent combination of road rage and holiday stress that made her give us the finger. Her reaction was completely out of proportion with our crime, trying to get into their lane because a tow truck was stopped in front of us. I have to assume that she was having a really horrendous day to visually assault a minivan filled to the gills with gawking little kids. She looked like a regular person, a middle aged soccer mom riding with her husband in their black Toyota Camry. Maybe she'd just driven to pick him up from work where he was just laid off. Or perhaps he had just confessed to having an affair with the night cashier at the Shell gas station. Because she didn't just flip us off and move on. She waved that middle finger up and down wildly, and aggressively mouthed the matching expletive. She was rabid, completely off the deep end, and I may even have seen a little dribble of spit down the left side of her mouth.

As soon as I finished silently shouting back, "Geez lady, CHILL OUT!" I peeked back at the kids to see if, by chance, they had missed the altercation. But no such luck. All three kids were staring at the madwoman, slack jawed, google eyed.

I gathered my thoughts, gearing up to explain her anger and her gesture, when Bella jumped in to save me the trouble.

"Well, she's DEFINITELY getting coal from Santa."

And with that comment, we were back in the holiday spirit, crazy lady dispatched to the list of bad kids. And that, was that.

Cheater BBQ Cookbook Giveaway

2009-12-17T05:13:00.000-05:00

When the weather cools down, I kiss barbecuing goodbye along with suntan lotion, bathing suits, and flip flops. And then I spend the next nine months missing the sun, the pool and most of all, the barbecue. But I just received a book for review that will at least let me enjoy barbecue all year long.

Cheater BBQ: Barbecue Anytime, Anywhere, in Any Weather is filled with incredibly easy barbecue recipes for the crock pot and the oven. No need to brave the cold, rain, or snow, all can be done in the comfort of your warm kitchen.

I loved that Cheater BBQ includes a huge list of dry rub and sauce recipes. It gave me the basic tools I needed to begin experimenting. The index covers just about every cheap cut of meat to be found the meat case from pork butt to chicken thighs, including dozens of types of ribs. I kicked off my indoor barbecuing tonight with a batch of beef short ribs that filled the house with a delicious smell of barbecue all day.

I have a copy of Cheater BBQ available for giveaway. I'll be choosing the winner at random among the comments on December 25. To be entered to win, leave a comment here with your favorite type of barbecue. You'll get extra chances to win if:

you are a subscriber to either of my blogs,
if you tweet this contest,
post it to your facebook page,
or link to it on your blog.

Good luck, and don't forget to enter my other 12 days of giveaways!

The Pressure is Lifted from the Perfect Holiday Shot

2009-12-16T09:30:00.002-05:00

Designing holiday cards is a stressful process. Beginning December 1, I dread going to the mailbox and finding it filled with the cards of organized, have it together moms. Everyday the guilt grows, as the time pressure of the looming end of year increases.

But here we are, officially closer to the end of December than the beginning, and I haven't begun the gathering of the addresses, or the revision of "the list."

But I have done the hard part. I have found "the picture." The one that encapsulates the spirit of the year. It used to be so stressful to find that one shot where Steve and I look youthful and glowing and where, miraculously, all of the kids are smiling and happy.

But now that cards come in so many designs, the pressure has been lifted. Holiday cards have become the slide shows of our youth. And the pressure of the selection process has been lifted.

I spent a few pleasant hours last weekend as the wind howled outside, revisiting vacations when we were tanned and rested. I could feel the sand between our toes and the kiss of the setting sun on our cheeks. It made me hunger to take next year's snapshot, preferably somewhere exotic and warm.

Happy Wordful, Wordless and Way-back wednesday!

The Pioneer Woman Cookbook Review and Giveaway

2009-12-15T14:16:00.008-05:00

I've written before about what a huge fan I am of Ree Drummond, author of the Pioneer Woman blog. I admire Ree not only for her gorgeous photography, her authentic voice, and her delicious food, but also for not letting success go to her head. Whenever I've seen her at blog conferences, she is always the most down to earth and approachable person there, completely unaffected by the millions of readers who visit her blog regularly, drinking in the pictures of her ranching life. She loves her husband, loves her kids, loves her photography, loves her cooking and she blogs about it all. She is, quite simply, someone I want to be when I grow up.

I was thrilled to receive a review copy of Ree's new cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl. Filled with beautiful pictures of life on the Drummond ranch, it reads just like Ree's blog, and it is filled with dozens of mouth watering recipes. My husband was thrilled by all my testing because Ree's food is his type of comfort food cooking: meatloaf, chicken pot pie, and braised beef brisket.

The recipes are clear and easy to follow, and wonderfully illustrated by Ree's step by step process pictures. But I found myself doing something I don't normally do when reading recipes: laughing aloud. I was highly entertained by Ree's commentary. For example, when she adds the cream to her Sherried Tomato Soup, she admonishes, "And now, people. It's time to get serious. And it's time to examine yourselves, and I mean that figuratively, for Pete's sake: when it comes to heavy cream, are you a man or a mouse? I need an answer now because we're about to add 1 1/2 cups of the stuff into our soup."

The soup is unbelievable. Creamy but also filled with so much flavor from the sherry. It's the kind of soup that makes you moan out loud, apologize, and then moan all over again. I'm reprinting the recipe here, but to really get the full effect, you have to check out the book with all the pictures. All the commentary is from the book - not me.

You could buy it for yourself and put it under the tree (it's so cheap at Amazon right now - only $11!).... or you could win a copy here. I'm giving away one copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girlfor today's giveaway. Just leave a comment here to be entered to win. And leave me additional comments for any tweets, links, or if you are a subscriber for additional chances to win. I'll select the winner, along with all the other 12 days of giveaways winners on December 25.

Sherried Tomato Soup Recipe (excerpt from the Pioneer Woman Cookbook)

Ingredients:

1 medium white or yellow onion

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) of butter

2 14.5-ounce cans of diced tomatoes

1 46-ounce bottle or can of tomato juice

3 to 6 tablespoons of sugar

1 or 2 tablespoons of chicken base or 3 chicken bouillon cubes

freshly ground black pepper

1 cup of sherry

1 1/2 cups of heavy cream

1/4 cups of chopped flat leaf parsley

1/4 cups of chopped basil

To begin with, chop the onion.
Melt the butter in a large pot or Dutch oven.
Throw in the onion and cook until translucent.
Now dump in the diced tomatoes and stir to combine.
Add the tomato juice. I usually use organic juice because I want people to think, She's cool because she uses organic.
Next - and this is important - in order to combat the acidity of the tomatoes, add 3 to 6 tablespoons sugar. Now, you'll want to start on the low side, then taste and add more as needed. Some tomatoes and juice have more of an acidic bite than others. (For what it's worth, and I realize it isn't worth much, I use 6 tablespoons of sugar. But I like a little sweetness to my tomato soup. So don't listen to me.)
Next, add 1 or 2 tablespoons of chicken base to the pot. I added 3 and it wound up being a little too much. But it's a middle child thing... I'm always adding more, more more!
Now you can add lots of freshly ground black pepper. Stir to combine, then heat almost to a boil. Then turn off the heat.
Now! Here's the nice little flavor that sets this soup apart. Add in the sherry, if desired. It'll keep you honest - I promise!
And now, people. It's time to get serious. And it's time to examine yourselves, and I mean that figuratively, for Pete's sake: when it comes to heavy cream, are you a man or a mouse? I need an answer now because we're about to add 1 1/2 cups of the stuff into our soup. And mmm... stir it together.
Now chop up a handful of flat-leaf parsley. And really, I'm not opposed to the curly parsley. And actually, blind taste tests have shown that there's really not much difference in taste. But flat-leaf is a little more texturally palatable, so if you can find it, it's best. "Texturally palatable." You know, I just throw these phrases out into the atmosphere and I have no idea where they come from. Or where they're going. Or where they've been.
Next, chop up a few leaves of fresh basil. (Well "chiffonade is the proper term... but that's way too complicated a topic to inject into this simple tomato soup.)
Now go ahead and throw in the parsley and the basil, and stir together. Next, take a whiff of this heavenly delight. Then faint. Then pick yourself up off the ground and grab your pepper mill again.
I always set it to fine for this soup, and I really let 'er loose. I love freshly ground pepper.
Keep the soup warm and serve it on a cold day to people you love. The flavor will knock your socks off.

Mexican Chocolate Yule Tide Log: my Challenge Dairy Holiday Dessert Recipe Entry

2009-12-14T22:45:00.006-05:00

I'm a butter lover. Look deep inside my fridge and you'll find nearly half a shelf devoted to butter in all shapes and sizes. There's European style butter, unsalted butter, and salted butter. There's store brand butter, local butter, and French fleur de sel butter. Each of these has a purpose, a place in my life, whether it's perfecting a piece of toast, creaming with sugar for chocolate chip cookies, or melting atop a sirloin steak. No doubt about it, I'm a butter girl, and proud of it.

So when the Challenge Dairy butter PR agency contacted me to complement me on my noodle kugel recipe and invite me to participate in holiday recipe contest using their butter, I was happy to sign on. They assigned me to the dessert category. A few weeks later, I received a nice refrigerated shipment of Challenge Dairy butter (European Style and regular unsalted), jars of Spice Islands Vanilla Extract, Cinnamon, and Nutmeg, and a few cooking utensils. And then I began brainstorming on the perfect holiday dessert recipe.

Challenge Dairy Butter is only available in the West right now, but they do have an amazing sweepstakes going on through December 31to win a trip for a family of four for 7 days and 6 nights at the Mountain Sky Guest Ranch just North of Yellowstone National State Park. Right about now a seven day vacation sounds pretty great, especially such a luxurious one worth $17,000!

In addition to being a butter lover, I'm also a master procrastinator. And so it wasn't until today, with just 10 days left to go until Christmas eve, that I got to work on my recipe. Every year, for our big Christmas eve feast, my sisters and I prepare some yule tide logs. But I didn't want to showcase just any old recipe for this challenge. I wanted something new, something a little different, something a little exotic. So I varied our traditional dessert a bit, and created this Mexican chocolate Yule Tide Log.

This is definitely an adult dessert, a symphony of dark chocolate and lightly sweetened mascarpone. The cake is a very light jelly roll (gateau roule), made light and fluffy by beaten egg whites and egg yolks. And the chocolate is a traditional ganache jazzed up with some cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg. I added a little butter to increase its shine. To keep the chocolate from being too overpowering, I paired it with a layer of mascarpone. The cake looks elegant, and even though it is intensely chocolaty, it is also light, the perfect conclusion to a big meal.

Mexican Chocolate Yule Tide Log
Ingredients: For the Jelly Roll Cake 1/4 cups of sugar 5/8 cups of flour 1 1/2 TBSPs of butter 3 egg whites 4 egg yolks 1 extra TBSP of sugar For the Fillings: 8 oz of semisweet chocolate 1 cup of heavy cream 1 TBSP of cinnamon 1 pinch of nutmeg 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract one package of 8 3/4 oz of mascarpone 1/2 cups of sugar
To make jelly roll cake:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
Melt the butter in microwave.
Beat the egg yolks and the sugar together at medium speed until creamy and pale yellow. At least 5 minutes. Stop the beaters and incorporate the flour with a spatula, mixing until just barely incorporated.
Beat the egg whites until stiff. About halfway through, throw in the extra tablespoon of sugar to help the egg whites hold their stiffness.
Simultaneously pour the egg whites and the butter on the egg yolk mixture. Mix it all together very delicately, to preserve as much of the air as possible while still incorporating everything.
Spread the batter in a large rectangle on a silpat or a sheet of wax paper atop a cookie sheet. You don't need your dough to be more than 1/2 inch thick.
Cook for 7 minutes, making sure you don't burn the cake.
Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature.

To make ganache and mascarpone fillings:

Chop up your chocolate into little chunks.
Bring the heavy cream to a boil in a medium saucepan.
Turn the heat off and pour in the chocolate, stirring until completely melted and gorgeous. Add in the butter, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Divide the ganache in half. Place half in the fridge for 5 minutes to cool and stiffen. Keep the other half in the saucepan.
Pour the mascarpone and sugar into a bowl, beat for 2-3 minutes on medium speed.
Remove the chilled half from the fridge. Beat for 3 to 5 minutes to thicken.

To assemble yule tide log:

Carefully detach the jelly roll from the silpat or wax paper.
Spread the whipped chilled ganache over the entire surface.
Cover the ganache with the sweetened mascarpone.
Carefully roll the cake up and transfer to a serving platter.
Pour the ganache still in the saucepan on top as a shiny chocolate glaze.
Cake can be served immediately, or kept chilled overnight. The ganache will set over time, especially if kept in the fridge.

Oh Christmas Tree...

2009-12-13T22:59:00.007-05:00

We had a vision about how things would go down. We would walk all in a row amidst the rows of towering pine trees, our feet softly crunching in the snow. Our breath would hang around our faces in soft white puffs. As we searched for the perfect tree, we would sing, our voices reaching towards the sky in unison. "Oh, Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree..."

It was going to be a day we remembered forever, the beginning of a new family tradition: our trip to the cut your own Christmas tree farm.

Except it didn't exactly work out that way.

For starters, there was no snow on the ground, just a hard, frozen soil. The absence of the white stuff would have been fine, if it hadn't also been freezing, bone wrenching cold that makes me shiver all over again as I write from the warmth of my couch.

Then there was the bickering over the sleds. Who would pull them, who would be first, whose turn it was, who was the most annoying brother in the world, who was the meanest big sister, poop, butt, meanie, MOMMY! Kind of put a damper on the Christmas spirit.

Once the war of the sleds was settled, we marched off to cut down our tree. And we marched, and we marched, and we marched. But the majestic evergreen we had envisioned was nowhere to be found. Instead we only found many cousins of Charlie Brown's shriveled tree, sad little pines that inspired pity.

And so, after much searching, we piled back into the car, tree-less, with an unfulfilled vision. We found our perfect tree the next day at a nearby nursery. It required no sawing, no marching, and needed no sleds to be ferried back to the car.

But by the time we hefted it inside the house, wrestled it into its stand, and positioned it in the living room, exactly how we got it became irrelevant. The tree was there, filling our home with its delicious aroma of pine and presents.

Now I really need to get going on my shopping.

BJ's Savings Solution Giveaway

2009-12-12T17:53:00.004-05:00

At the very last minute, I've decided to get into the spirit of the holidays by hosting 12 days of giveaways here and at Chefdruck Reviews. What can I say, I love playing Santa both at home and on the web! So set your bookmarks, subscribe to my feed, do whatever you need to do to get organized, but just make sure you come back every day until Christmas to get a chance to win!

My first giveaway is going to help you save a ton.

During the year, I usually don't shop at BJs for my family. I'm scared that I'll get too carried away by all that value and end up coming home with industrial quantities of chocolate chips and tea and have no place to store them. And so I continue shopping at my regular supermarket, spending way too much on shampoo, detergent, and toothpaste.

But during the holidays, all bets are off.

Because my family is spread out across North America and Europe, Christmas is not a one day affair. We come together for a week to ten days of family quality time, filled with long dinners, puzzles, and board games. It's this time every year that helps us feel connected during the other eleven months when we are separated by distance and time differences.

But feeding this ever growing troop can be a challenge. The food in my fridge and pantry just seems to disappear as soon as I bring it in. During this time of year, my regular supermarket just will not suffice. I'd have to move in there just to keep up with my family, and would not be able to afford to feed them and get gifts for Christmas morning.

I was thrilled to learn that BJs is currently offering a free 60 day trial membership. The timing couldn't be better. Just go to the link above to print out your coupon to bring into the store. You'll soon have 2 months of access to huge boxes of cookies, flour, ketchup, and meat. They also have some fantastic deals on toys and gifts.

And to make matters even better, MyBlogSpark has given me and one lucky winner a $25 BJs gift card (courtesy of BJ's Savings Club and General Mills). I plan to use mine to buy a HUGE filet mignon roast. It's making my mouth water just thinking about it.

What will you use your gift card and free membership for? Leave your answer in a comment to be entered for a chance to win. I'll select the winner on Thursday, December 24.

As usual, you can get extra chances to win by:

linking to this contest on your blog,
subscribing to my Chefdruck Musings feed
subscribing to my Chefdruck Reviews feed.
tweeting this contest.

Just remember to leave me a different comment to get credit for each extra entry.

The Piano Teacher by Janice Y. K. Lee - A Book Review

2009-12-11T18:14:00.001-05:00

The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K.Lee is one of those books that plunge the reader deep into its world, making the real world a little duller in comparison. From the first page, I was seeing, smelling and hearing 1940s and 1950s Hong Kong with its crowded markets, its elaborate parties, and its dazzling views of the emerald bay.

The novel weaves two story lines a decade apart together, one during World War II, and the other ten years later amidst the lingering after-effects of the war. The later storyline is told in the past tense, which further illustrates the powerlessness of the characters to redress the mistakes of the past. The earlier storyline is told in the present tense, heightenning the sense of excitement and danger of the Japanese occupation. Although this sounds confusing, it works well, highlighting the connection of the past to the present. Many characters are present in both storylines, most notably Will Truesdale, who we first meet in the 1940s when he arrives in Hong Kong.

In the 1940s, Will is a young and handsome Englishman, new to Hong Kong and unitiated to the rules of its complex social structure. He quickly becomes involved with Trudy, a gorgeous, rich Eurasian socialite, and falls deeply in love with her. The reader too falls under the spell of this intoxicating young woman, this "sleek greyhound among the others - plump, braying women of a certain social class." Will and Trudy are soon attending elaborate parties together every night, the "it" couple of the Hong Kong scene, making parties come alive with their presence. When the war breaks out, the two are separated due to their different nationalities, and Trudy becomes even more dangerously mysterious, jeopardizing both her fate and Will's with her actions.

The intrigue builds with every wartime chapter, and is painfully contrasted with the different mood of the 1950s chapters. There we find Will, older and limping, working as a chauffeur for people he used to socialize with. He is engaged in a love affair with a young, pale, blonde Englishwoman named Claire who has just arrived in Hong Kong with her husband. This time it is Will who is the jaded and damaged corruptor of an innocent mate.

The Piano Teacher is a captivating read, filled with scenes and characters that will remain etched in your mind long after you've put it down. It's the best time of escapist novel, one of those books that proves reading can be more exciting than going to the movies, but also so beautifully written that you'll find yourself re-reading sentences just to appreciate their elegance. Grab a copy while you're finishing up your holiday shopping. It will be just the thing to read, snuggled up under a blanket after all the presents have been opened.

Chocolate Beet Cupcakes: Hands On with Dave Lieberman

2009-12-10T11:03:00.010-05:00

Yesterday, as the temperature plummeted and the wind whipped in Columbus, I boarded a plane for New York City. My destination was a swanky culinary loft in Soho to attend a cooking demonstration with Food Network cutie David Lieberman. And to multiply the fun factor, I was bringing my baby sister as my plus 1 and meeting my NYC Moms Blog friends Jennifer Perrillo and Amy Oztan.

I basically danced with glee all the way through the Columbus Airport.

Even with the ferocious wind gusts, our plane was only delayed an hour and I arrived at the loft right on time.

The event was sponsored by Del Monte and tied in nicely with Dave Lieberman's new book The 10 Things You Need to Eat: And More Than 100 Easy and Delicious Ways to Prepare Them.

I was hanging out with the lovely Vera Sweeney and her husband, Tim, from I'm Not Obsessed, plying her with 1,001 questions about Tiger Woods, Tom Cruise, and Katie Holmes when Dave Lieberman started walking around. He was such a nice and approachable guy that I almost didn't recognize him. He came right over and chatted with us and once again, I was surprised by how down to earth TV celebrities can be.

He demonstrated four recipes, enough to make a knock out meal, and then gave us a chance to make each with him. He started with a spinach scallion dip, a chunky chipotle corn chowder, a chicken cacciatore entree, and the most interesting and most delicious of all, a beet and chocolate cupcake. As a butter and cream lover, I was highly skeptical of this beet creation, but it was moist, sweet and intensely chocolaty.

The recipe includes plenty of butter and sugar, and is by no means a diet recipe. It generates its health benefits from the inclusion of beets. I'll quote Anahad O'Connor, co-author of 10 Things You Need to Eat and a weekly column in the New York Times science section, to best illustrate its value, "Ounce for ounce, the beet boasts what may be a heftier range of nutrients - folate, potassium, iron, fiber, antioxidants, and even a little protein - than virtually any other fruit or vegetable on the planet." So eating one of these little cupcakes is a little like taking a multivitamin.

I'm including the recipe below, and off to make it myself to add pictures and validate its yumminess outside of a fancy Soho kitchen.

Beet Mash Chocolate Cupcakes with Beet Frosting

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes

1 1/2 14.5 oz can of fresh cut beets, thoroughly drained
2 sticks of unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cups of vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup of warm water
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
3/4 cups of sweetened cocoa
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the glaze

Approximately 1/2 a 14.5 oz can of beets, thoroughly drained and mashed
2 sticks of unsalted butter
1 pound of confectioner's sugar

To make the cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a small bowl, mash the drained can of beets finely with a potato masher and set aside. (You could also use a food processor)
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the melted butter, granulated sugar, oil, eggs, and water. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients until thoroughly combined. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet. Fold in the mashed beets and mix well.
Pour the batter into cupcake cups. Bake about 70 minutes, until set but moist. Let cool on cooling rack.

To make the glaze frosting:

Mash the 1/2 can of beets finely with a potato masher.
Melt 1 stick of butter in a saucepan and add the mashed beets. Simmer on very low heat for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, cream the second stick of butter with a mixer in a bowl. Mix in the melted butter and beet mixture until fully incorporated. Gradually beat in the confectioner's sugar.

Ice the cupcakes when cooled with a thick layer of glaze icing.

*A very grateful thank you to Bobby Marro Photography for these gorgeous pictures. I lugged my big camera through airport security, but forgot my memory card in Ohio.

Keeping them Believing a Little Longer

2009-12-09T10:19:00.004-05:00

Ever since I became a mom, I've been dreading the day Bella will discover that Santa is a myth. I remember how crushed I was when the magic of Christmas dissipated. The victory of finally discovering the suspected present stash was hollow when I discovered that tumbling pile of unwrapped gifts shoved into our house's crawl space. Every year as Christmas approaches, I fear that this will be the year that Bella learns that painful lesson.

But this year, I got a new ally... in the form of an elf.

Elves are all the craze in our town. Every family in Bella's school seems to have either one per household or one per child. Traditions vary, but the basic concept is that the elf does mischievous things at night and reports back to Santa on the children's behavior.

Jolly Jingler joined our family on Monday night. He's already swung from the chandelier and created a huge tower of books. Every morning the kids fly out of bed to see what hijinks he was up to as they slept. But the most touching thing for me has been to see them whisper to him their wishes and messages to Santa.

Looks like we'll be basking in the magic for a few more years at least.

Happy Wordful, Wordless and Way-back wednesday!

The Punk: Write of Passage Writing Well Challenge Week 1

2009-12-08T10:14:00.003-05:00

Today's writing well challenge on the Write of Passage group is character. Find someone, anyone, and build two paragraphs around them.

Do you ever see striking people and wonder what their story is? I love to make them up, entertaining my husband and children with them, or sometimes just recording them in my writing notebook.

This writing was inspired by an unlikely trio I stood in line next to at the Columbus airport last week.

Most people only saw his purple mohawk and the angry red pimples covering his cheeks. Then they wrote him off, tightening their grip on their purse and wallet, taking a step away to steer clear of danger. Rhonda saw it every day as she walked with him down the street, and it made her sad to have the world dismiss him so quickly, missing a chance to know such a gifted young man.

She'd seen his potential right away that day she was volunteering at the homeless shelter. She'd looked up to grab another can to stack up on the kitchen shelf and had found herself looking into his kind eyes. She'd assumed they belonged to a grown man, they were so weary, so tired, and she'd been shocked to find that they belonged to a young fifteen year old boy. She'd known right then and there, before she'd heard his sad story from the shelter manager later that morning, that they had been destined to meet that day, and that she was meant to bring him into their lives. It had taken a lot of convincing to get Jim to agree to foster a white punk teenager. He'd asked, "Are you just looking for trouble? But she had been unshakeable and because he was a good man who loved her, he'd finally given in and agreed to have the boy come live with them for a while.

Rhonda wiped an errant tear before Jim or the boy could see. Both were busy observing the planes taking off and landing. They both looked happy and relaxed with each other, laughing and joking. She couldn't believe they were here, about to board a plane to Chicago to bring the boy back to his parents, to finally set his story back on the right path.

Now it's your turn. Find a character, someone at the mall, a red light, the doctor's office, and write about them. 10 minutes. Go.

Fun for the Whole Family: Sushi Party 101

2009-12-07T10:26:00.000-05:00

I love having sushi parties. When my friend Yumi first initiated me into the secrets of sushi, I didn't believe her. I felt as though I was trespassing in a forbidden world and couldn't believe how easy it was. The wow and fun factors are high, but the effort and cost are low. All you really need, for a successful sushi party, is a high quality Japanese supermarket. The rest is easy.

As soon as we landed in Columbus, I started searching for a Japanese supermarket. I asked everyone I encountered about Asian supermarkets, and whenever I met a Japanese person, I got right down to business, asking them where they shop. The supermarket is key because it's the only place I would trust to buy sushi grade fish. Some regular supermarkets advertise sushi-quality tuna, but that makes me a little nervous. There are no standards for these things, and we all know where a bad piece of sushi can send us. So I prefer to buy my sushi fish from a Japanese supermarket, a busy one packed with customers, with gorgeous fish that looks like candy.

In New Jersey, I loved my trips to Mitsuwa, a huge Japanese supermarket in Edgewater. Here in Columbus, I discovered Tensuke Market (1167 Old Henderson Road 614.451.6002), thanks to The Restaurant Widow blog. Although Tensuke is much smaller than Mitsuwa, I found all of the ingredients I needed, including beautiful fish. As there's little I love more than stepping through the doors of a store and being transported to another continent, I'll continue exploring the other Asian markets in the area.

Other than gorgeous fish, you'll just need a few other items. You can easily walk out with all you need for a sushi feast for under $30. You'll need:

some short grain sushi rice,
a couple of packets of sushi rice seasoning to make it sticky and sweet (see above for picture),
some wasabi paste, a little pickled ginger,
and a package of seaweed sheets.

Now if you want to get a little fancier, you can also get:

A couple of bamboo mats to roll up your sushi.
Some veggies: avocado, cucumber, carrots.
Some fruits: mango, peach, and pineapple.
Fun Japanese salads like seaweed salad.
Wild Japanese desserts and candy to entertain the kids.
Sake and Japanese beer.

And as far as the fish goes, I usually go with tuna (toro and regular), salmon, yellowtail, and barbecued eel that I find in the freezer.

Once you have all your ingredients, it's time to put all of your guests to work, creating their own sushi creations. I set out to steaming bowls of sushi rice in the middle of the table, lay the fish, fruit and veggies on platters all around, and let everyone channel their own sushi chef. People can choose to make rolls with bamboo mats or plastic wrap, or stay conservative with sushi pieces of rice mounds topped with fish. At times, I have even been known to just go with sashimi and have a few bites of rice in between. Amy is pictured above. She had never tried to make sushi before, but she was turning out better looking rolls than anyone at the table within minutes.

My kids love these sushi parties. I don't really encourage them to go with the raw fish though, providing them with lots of veggies and some chicken fingers to roll up in the rice. For our last dinner, Bella stuck to her favorite, the chicken nugget roll, but her friend surprised me by making a gorgeous tuna and avocado roll.

Everyone had a blast, and everyone walked away very full.

Moving on to Planning for Career #12

2009-12-06T22:57:00.002-05:00

I've always toyed with the idea of becoming a teacher, a French teacher, with posters of baguettes and croissants on the walls of her classroom. It's one of over a dozen careers I try on for size on rainy days when the kids are playing quietly and I begin projecting out five years or even ten years down the road. On those days, the future, with my daily seven hours of freedom, doesn't seem so far away, and starts to seem terrifying.

When I daydream about being a teacher, I see two dozen rapt pairs of eyes gazing up at me, drinking in my conjugations of the passe compose of the verb manger.
J'ai mange le gateau... Tu as mange le gateau... Il a mange le gateau...
They're taking notes, nodding and smiling, and repeating carefully everything I say.

This lovely vision dissipated without trace last week when I picked up Close Encounters of the Third-Grade Kind: Thoughts on Teacherhood by Philip Done. He took me into his classroom, chapter by chapter, and, even though he told many hilarious stories about the kids in his classroom, he also showed how tough it is to be a teacher. It takes patience, passion, and persistence. Qualities I already have in short supply for my three kids, before moving on to hordes of others.

And so I kissed this possible career goodbye... and moved on to the other dozen. Librarian, Professional Traveler, Food Critic, Historical Fiction Writer, Personal Chef... just to name a few.

Close Encounters of the Third-Grade Kind is the featured book for the Silicon Valley Moms Group December book club.