Thursday 13 AND Tuesday Table Topics (The Late Edition): Greatest challenge in the kitchen

Pretend it's Tuesday, would you? That would help me out tremendously. The question I plucked from the Table Topics pile this week is: What is your greatest challenge in the kitchen? And, in the interest of doing double duty, see Thursday 13 below. (I'm nothing if not a multi-tasker.) They do relate, you'll see. It's all about food, so it relates, no?!

It's probably pretty obvious to everyone else right now what my greatest challenge in the kitchen is. It's obvious to me, even, and I can be slowish in self-discovery ways, yes indeed I can. But when I look at all the food I've made over the course of the summer and all the preserving I've done (especially this week) and all the photos I've uploaded to blogger, it begs the question: where are the posts?

Well, they are in my brain. Right along with most of the recipes and cooking tips and tricks. This was my challenge in catering, and will probably haunt me as long as I cook: WRITE IT DOWN, SHER. Good holy grief. There. That's it. That's my biggest challenge: I read recipes, consult the books, but then strike out on my own and think back later, oh, I really should have written it down--was that two garlic cloves or three? A pint of chicken stock or a quart? Who can say? It tastes good, I eat it, feed others and move on.

When attempting to make it again do I think, dang, that would be good to know... I have scraps of paper hither and thither, notes tucked away on my iphone, sort of, but most of it rattles around in my brain and I NEED TO GET IT OUT! Luckily my memory is pretty good, and my taste memory too, so I can usually get it somewhat close. However, I would be a much better cook if I could adhere to this one thing. Definitely a more consistent cook, too.

So for this combo of Thursday 13 and Tuesday Table Topics, I'm going to list the thirteen things that have come out of my kitchen in the past 48 hours. With the hope/promise of posting what I can remember in the near future! And pictures too...

1. Plum chutney.

2. Lavendar scented plum preserves.

3. Roasted tomatoes (oh, the smell!).

4. Roasted eggplant (looks revolting, want to try something new with this... no more need for baba ghanouj... I just don't see my men buying that any time soon...).

5. Enchilada sauce.

6. Marinara sauce.

7. Dried plums.

8. Dried blueberries.

9. Enchilada/tortilla lunch bowl with cilantro, cheese and sour cream (yummy AND cleared my sinuses!).

10. Meaty spaghetti pie with homemade marinara. Men loved that for dinner tonight.

11. Cabbage salsa.

12. Pico de gallo.

13. Very hot tomatillo/pepper sauce.


Love a good list! Actually makes me feel like I accomplished something this week. Now I'm ready to put my canner away and join the rest of the world again.

To see other Thursday 13 participants, go here. Happy TT.

Tuesday Table Topics #7: One fruit forever

Today's question: If you could only eat one fruit for the rest of your life, what would it be?

This is a rather cruel question. Fruit ranks so high on my list of favorite things to eat, period. The thought that I would have to narrow it down is just plain sad. Horrifying. So we'll all just be happy that this is one dream I'll wake up from, and give the best answer I can in the meantime, which is: blueberries.

I know, this may be shocking to some of you. After all, I have done nothing but profess a great love for all things fig. And that love still exists. It is pure and passionate and I have four flats of figs in my fridge right now. Yes, right now! This very second. Can't you just feel the fig excitement?

However, (and can't you tell a great deal of thought has gone into this?) when thinking about the usefulness of the fig over time, I can't help but feel that it pales next to the blueberry. Blueberries are fabulous fresh, but they are also able to withstand baking and cooking in many forms. There would be blueberry cobbler, blueberry muffins, blueberry pancakes, blueberry buckle, blueberry jam and blueberries in salads and over cereal... the uses are really quite endless. And while all the same things I just rhapsodized re: blueberries could be said for raspberries as well, there is just somethin' somethin' about the blueberry that speaks to my little berry soul.

As luck would have it, the house is currently devoid of any blueberry happiness. We scarfed the last of a bunch after supper night before last, and I have yet to wend my way out to Klickers again. But it will happen very soon, as blueberry season is too short, and my love is way big.

Tuesday Table Topic #6: Cook for me

This week's topic: What famous chef would you like to have cook a meal for you?

I have thought about this question all day. I know, I'm on vacation. What else do I have to think about? Really. Between the massage, the Wii Sports Resort waveboarding, walking around town, web surfing and eating too much, what else do I have to do?!

First it was Eric Ripert and all the loveliness that is him, and Le Bernardin. Then, I got real. I'm not so seafoody, and his art would be wasted on me.

Of course Tom Colicchio came quickly to mind. He's a god in many godly steak-ish ways, and is there a quicker way to my heart? Probably not. But somewhere mid-afternoon that idea faded... maybe I've had too many great steak dinners in my life (I refer to those as true "happy meals")... or maybe he just seems too accessible, since I have eaten at 'wichcraft a couple of times and stood face-to-glass at Craft in NYC... I think I was on food overload by that point (having just eaten at Union Square Cafe) and vowed we'd make it there "next time"... Regardless of why, today I moved on.

I then pondered an old favorite of mine: Suzanne Goin. I first saw her as a Food & Wine up-and-comer in 1999 (10 years ago!); I was impressed with her approach to food then, and have always followed her through pubs and online. When I spot her food, it consistently looks like something I would like to eat! She is a fresh West Coast chef and her menus at Lucques look amazing.

But at the end of the day--where we're at now!--I just had to go with Alice Waters. I walked by Chez Panisse (completely by accident) a few years ago when I was in Berkeley but didn't get a chance to eat there and I regret it--she is largely considered a pioneer and icon for the slow-local movement, and it would simply be an honor to eat anything she cooks.

In looking over her menus for this week at the restaurant, I took the liberty of creating my own, pulling a dish from Monday, one from Tuesday, and so on--whatever appealed to me; and most of it did! At Chez Panisse, each night there is only one full menu served, so you'd better be on board for the full ride.

Here's what Alice would make me:
*Heirloom tomato carpaccio with cucumber relish
*Chino Ranch corn and squash blossom soup
*Pan-seared Alaskan salmon with Indian spices
*Grilled rack, loin, and leg of Elliott Ranch lamb with fresh flageolet beans andeggplant à l’orientale
*Plum crostata with cardamom ice cream

I know, I essentially picked two main courses, with the salmon and the lamb. Cut me some slack--think of it as a fish course and a meat course! How many times in my life is Alice Waters going to be cooking for me?

With all that daydreaming, now I'm hungry. And no Alice in sight. Sigh.

Tuesday Table Topics #5: 20 pounds or celery?

The question I pulled for this week is kind of a no-brainer, for me: Would you rather live on celery or be 20 pounds overweight?

Um. I'll take that extra 20, Bob, thanks.

Not only do I not enjoy celery (it's only passable with a good dallop of peanut butter), I also can't really imagine eating only ONE thing indefinitely. And if I did have to choose one thing, it couldn't possibly be celery. Maybe pesto pasta. Or guacamole. Or pizza. Or tacos. Notice none of those items are a single ingredient... and none of them are really in the healthy category. Hence the extra 20, I guess.

I'm not saying weight isn't important... to me. It is. Kind of. But not to the detriment of my widely varied and highly subjective menu planning. So you can stick that in your jar of peanut butter and bite it, Table Topics!

Tuesday Table Topics #4: Top pastry

Here's a little something to chew on: Which pastry would be your top choice with your morning coffee?

Hmm. This one requires a little thought, but not a lot... I have a particular weakness for all things frangipane; now, the traditional form is made from almonds, which are fine. I happen to prefer hazelnuts, but you probably could have guessed that, eh? Don't know when I acquired that little fatty vice (probably college or thereabouts), but it is well and truly embedded in my preferences. Give me a little ground hazelnuts, butter, sugar and eggs and, if you must, throw a little pastry around it. The pastry can come in many shapes, but I will probably look for the one that has the most heavenly goo in it, and that's usually a pretzel. Pinwheels are fine, but there's all that pastry space out there, plain and unadulterated... Pretzels have nooks and crannies that will hopefully be full of frangipane!

The photo above came from a lovely food blog called the home baker. How impressive is that--homemade danish! I could wake up to that on occasion! I looked high and low all over ye olde internet and couldn't find a single decent image of my beloved frangipane pretzel--it made me think maybe the only place that makes those is our local deli, Merchants... and I should go down and take a picture for you, so that you can invision the deliciousness of which I speak... I can't even remember the last time I had one, which is pretty sad. Pastry and my morning coffee don't often meet up anymore... maybe it's time to do something about that.

(Yes, Kim, I really did mean it. I need some kind of nutritional reset button, now! Peach cobbler is gone, but apricot must surely follow?)

Additional tidbit... did you know the plumeria flower, of which I am particularly fond, has the proper name of frangipani? How clever is that? Well, not very. But quite handy for me when I need to remember: favorite flower? Frangipani. Favorite pastry? Frangipane. Helpful, no? Tuck that away in your memory banks, would you?!

Inhale. Aloha.

Tuesday Table Topics #3: Treasured handwritten recipes

This week's Tuesday Table Topic: Do you have any treasured handwritten recipes?

Oh yes.

I have a soft spot for handwritten recipes, which may seem odd, as most of my recipe hunting now takes place online... but there are a few oldies but goodies that still have a place in my recipe box. Yep, still have one of those too!

But the thing about handwritten recipes are the memories they represent, either a specific food memory, or, equally likely, the remembrance of the person who wrote it. Or both...

Here are a few of my favorites.

This one is written by a good friend of our family's and must have been handed down to my mom, and then to me. Can you see how much it's been used? It is a real vegetarian comfort food casserole for the holidays. A big favorite.

Bon bons were an annual holiday favorite around our house--again, you can see how well-loved this recipe card is. It's my handwriting, probably from around high school era.

Again, this is my handwriting, of mom's much-loved rhubarb custard pie. I think I wrote this out sometime in the 90s.

This is my mom's handwriting, of another childhood casserole favorite. This one is quite yummy. And I always loved that card it's written on too.

This is my Grandma Kandt's handwriting, but I've never even made this recipe, to my memory. But anything in her handwriting is precious to me, and I have kept every card/recipe/note from recent years. Maybe I'll have to give this granola recipe a whirl!

I wish I had more recipes from my grandma, written down when she cooked and baked. Because, boy, did she cook and bake! Strudle, kuchen, cinnamon rolls, perogies... an Eastern European smorgasbord of goodness. Makes me want to lay down in a carb coma just thinking about it. I can usually find recipes online if I have the urge to make one of her specialties, but it usually isn't quite the same. There was something special about her feel for the ingredients and how the recipe should work--tweak a bit there, add a little here--that made it work. A great way to cook!

Tuesday Table Topics #2: Food snob or happy foodie?

Today's question: What's your definition of a food snob and are you one?

Hmmm. I've pondered this for a bit and while I have a picture in my head of a food snob, I have a hard time with the actual description.

But I'll give it a stab: A food snob is someone for whom food is very important. They have all the qualities of a happy foodie: they love good food, good quality, great ingredients and fine dining scenarios. They savor their food, and they will go out of their way to find just the right meal/dish/ingredient. Sounds pretty good, right?

The thing that differentiates a food snob from what I call a "happy foodie" is attitude. With a food snob, there isn't a relaxed flexibility in regards to food--food snobs look down their noses at people who eat things they don't approve of, whether that's processed or "junk" foods, or people who eat at chain/franchise restaurants, particular ingredients, etc. They take it all just way too seriously, and they are happy for you to know it. Not the right cheese? Tsk tsk. Oh, you'll eat there? Really? Hmmm. Creamer in your coffee? How gauche. (It's all in the tone.)

So that's my definition. Am I a food snob? I certainly hope not. I see myself much more as a happy foodie (totally my term, don't blame the poor table topics folks for that one!). I like good food, very much. I like it fresh and local and homemade as much as possible. I've made dinner more times than I can count when I've been dead-dog-tired just because I know it will be yummier than most places I would eat out and I am in the mood for a certain something.

But, just as many times I've ordered in pizza, take out Mexican, Chinese or who knows what, just because. I think spray-cheese from a can has it's place in snacking (not often, but for kicks!), I believe Smarties (the Canadian version, of course) actually do raise your IQ, and I think grocery store potato salad beats mine plenty often.

We're off to weed the garden, pick lavendar and cherries, and fix more drip irrigation. Life on the farm is never dull. And maybe for lunch we'll order in pizza!

Tuesday Table Topics

So you've seen those Table Topic games, right? There's the Family one, the Girl's Night Out... it started with just a couple and has grown into quite the little industry.

Which is all to say, I have the Gourmet version. How exciting is that? And it sits in my kitchen, I pull a card out now and again, and that's that. So I happened upon the idea of plucking a random card from the pile every Tuesday (alliteration is important, no?) and answering it here... in writing... for you all... my three loyal followers!

So how hilarious is this very first question I pluck from the stack: If you needed to gain weight what would you eat? Ha ha ha. So if you've been paying attention, I've been trying to take a little bit off lately, so that question is pretty darn funny. My gut instinct was: Oh, what I've been eating the past couple of years! But that's probably not what "they" meant.

Let's see, what would I eat? Hmmm. Carbs carbs carbs. Sweets sweets sweets. Cheese cheese cheese. Probably fettucine alfredo or carbonara... or both. A little custard, a little cake... a little of both! Milkshakes from the IceBurg, of course. With fries, onion rings and tartar sauce, a cheeseburger... Oh boy. (Didn't I make a resolution not to write about food in the evening? Yikes.) Oh, probably would need a steak. With blue cheese mashed potatoes. Grilled cheese sandwiches with lots of butter on the outsides to make them crisp. Oh, I just thought of fried things... that would help pack it on. Cheese sticks, yep. Any vegetable done tempura style. Oh my. A cheese plate, of course. Baked eggs. Oh, I forgot cheesecake. Lots of different flavors. And chocolate...

And then there's the different ethnic cuisines... lots of Thai peanuty noodles, and Indian curries with full-fat coconut milk and lots of ghee, enchiladas from our friends south of the border, gelato (how did I not mention chocolate hazelnut gelato already? I've obviously been blocking some of these foods out mentally), crusty baguette and brie, fondue (!)...

OK, I think I've adequately answered this first installment. Look forward to future, healthier Tuesday Table Topics in the future!