Nesting In The 21st Century

Chez Fifi

The thing I love the most about the Internet is the ability to find treasure troves of beauty and inspiration.  I particularly love that the Internet allows Artisans a platform for their artistic point of view which is pure and direct.  There is no need to homogenize the vision to apply to the masses...it only need make sense to the author. 

An analogy would be some of  the cooking magazines on the shelves.  The recipes are often woefully unseasoned and conservative.  They are made to appeal to a huge variety of people who live in many different parts of the country and vastly different access to ingredients.  So...it can come off a bit homogenized.  Don't use those habaneros in the jerk chicken recipe...many won't be able to find them...and they might be too hot.  So, jalapenos instead.  The Internet provides a wonderful array of cooking blogs which supply an endless variety of recipes with a very specific point of view.  They don't worry about appealing to everyone.  They appeal to those willing to give the recipe a try.  That Jerk Chicken recipe is from the Simply Recipes blog and is one I am trying this Tuesday by the way!

All of this brings me to today's most wonderful find.  The kind of blog which makes my heart beat faster as I discover an entire new treasure trove of inspiration and purity of vision.  The blog is Chez Fifi.  It is rather new and undeniably fabulous.    I have always been a francophile...toile, champagne, Paris, Pain au Chocolat, Provence...I love it all and this blog is a wonderful connection to that most wonderful place.  Fifi was born in Paris and has transplanted to Florida bringing her style and joie de vivre with her.  I am thrilled to add it to my list of "must reads"...the blogs which I visit daily and become old friends...cyber wise anyway.

This was a super quote on Chez Fifi.  This collage was so beautifully done by  Shawn.   (The Auntie Pea blog is another fun find).

I love the Internet.  It has become my gateway to a galaxy of inspiration and just plain fun.  I don't know how the Jerk Chicken will work out...but what I do know is that we will be trying something spicy and new...and that, ultimately, sure makes life fun....even on a Tuesday night.

Peppermint Bark

This year I did some little gifts for those oh-so-kind folks who are so nice during the year.  The nice receptionist at the Orthodontists office and the UPS driver who puts up with the constant stream of packages among the seemingly hundreds of others!

I made peppermint bark wrapped in a cellophane bag tied with my favorite Joyeux Noel Midori ribbon.  I added some little red ornaments for fun.  I put the bag inside a star shaped baking dish.  I found them last year at the Crate & Barrel outlet(or was it the year before last?) I gave it with a little red toile Christmas scrapbook.  I think part of the reason I love Christmas so much is it gives me the chance to say a big thank you to everyone who helps me out during the year.

Peppermint bark is my all time favorite quick gift at the holidays.

Melt 1 Lb.  white almond bark in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave.  I break it into squares first.  I start with 30 seconds and keep heating and stirring until it is melted.  Break one package candy canes into pieces.  Reserve some of the candy pieces.  Stir the rest into melted coating. Spread the mixture onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet.  Sprinkle with reserved candy pieces.  Put the pan into the refrigerator to harden.  Once hard break into pieces and store in an airtight container or large zip lock bag.  Enjoy!

Buttercrunch Toffee

Buttercrunch Toffee

2 cups sliced Almonds

1 1/4 cup light brown sugar

2 T. water or rum

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4-1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Toast Almonds:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place almonds on a cookie sheet.  Toast for 5-15 minutes until golden brown and fragrant.  Cool.  Place in a food processor and grind until very fine. Sprinkle half on a buttered cookie sheet (about a 7 x 10" area.)  I use a Silpat lined cookie sheet which works really well.

Measure vanilla and baking power, set aside near the stove.

In a medium saucepan combine brown sugar, water (or rum) and butter.  Stirring constantly bring to a boil and continue cooking until it reaches 290 degrees on a candy thermometer. It is important to stir frequently and let it get fully up to temperature. Remove from heat (the mixture will continue to rise in temp. to 300.)

Add the vanilla and baking powder.

Quickly pour the toffee mixture over the nuts on the cookie sheet and spread with a spatua.  It will cool very quickly so do this part fast.  Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top and let rest a minute or two until they begin to melt.  Spread them in an even layer over the toffee.  Sprinkle the remaining nuts over the tope and let cool.

Store in an airtight container.  It keeps about a month (although in my house it doesn't last more than a day.)  This is a super recipe for the holidays as it can be made early in December for giving later or to have on hand when guests stop by.

And the Dinner Is...

And the winner is Lemon-Garlic Herbed Chicken from the Picnics and Tailgates William-Sonoma Cookbook with 29.6% of the vote.   I have to say I have totally enjoyed this.  It was so fun to check in to see what we would be having...Salmon led in the beginning but the Chicken had a surge at the end.  If nothing else it really energized the what to have for dinner process.  This is one of my favorite cookbooks and I think you can pick one up for just a couple of dollars at Amazon or Half.com.

The funny thing was trying to explain what I was doing to my Mom.  "No Mom people are going to vote for what we'll have for dinner....no they aren't coming to dinner they are just voting for it...Just like a Presidential election but with pasta."  I am positive that she has no idea what I was talking about and that I will spend the next few months trying to figure out a way to make it make sense.  The reality is that it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense.  Sometimes fun things just don't.  Maybe that is the point.

I created the poll at http://www.vizu.com/.   It is free to sign up and you can create whatever type of poll you would like.  You can then either put it on your blog or e-mail it to friends (or customers or whatever.)  The polls are customizable so they can be whatever colors you would like.  I didn't mess around with that too much.  I added the one photo but you can add one for each answer which is fun.

It is amazing to see the polls that other people have created.  From Mel Gibson to Danity Kane to the HPV vaccine it is all there.  I particularly liked the "Who will be the new AAAHHNNNDDRRAAEEE?" poll (I just love Project Runway.)  I won't give it away but you can take a peek. 

White Sangria

I have made this often over the years.  I first tasted it at a friends Christmas party.  It was such a great change from the usual holiday drinks.  I especially like it in the summer and it is perfect with appetizers or hors'd oeuvres. 

White Sangria

Adapted from the Silver Palate Cookbook by Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins

1 bottle dry white wine

1 pear, peeled and sliced

1 cup seedless green grapes

1 lemon, sliced into rounds, seeds removed

Any other fruits you like (I have used Strawberries, Peaches, Limes, Kiwi, and Nectarines)

2 tbls. superfine sugar

2 tbls. Calvados or Armagnac  or (my favorite) Absolut Mandarin

3 tbls. Cointreau

1 1/2 cups sparkling water

Pour wine into pitcher.  Add fruit, sugar and alcohol.  Cover and chill 4 to 5 hours.  To serve stir and add sparkling water.

Pesto Chicken

A funny thing happened when we were cooking dinner last night.  Years ago I made up a Pesto Chicken recipe which has since become one of my family's favorites.  (Especially my daughter's .)  It is in constant rotation around here and my husband even makes his own version.  Last night he whipped up his Pesto Chicken and was just serving it when the two of them wanted to know if I was going to put it on the blog.  My husband wanted me to take a picture because he felt it was certainly attractive (and tasty) enough and my daughter wanted me to mention that it is one of her favorites.

I thought it was so funny that they were thinking in blog terms about their dinner.  Usually it is me who is grabbing the camera.  My husband was so darn proud of that Pesto...as well he should have been in was delicious.  And my daugher wanted to share how much she liked it.

Sometimes I sit here typing away and I forget that it must be weird for my family.  In this case they wanted me to write about what they were doing but it reminded me that I need to always be careful where their lives are concerned.  It's funny this blog stuff.  It feels so familiar so fast.  People come to comment and they are so supportive and nice it is easy to forget that it is out there for the world to read.  That was my reminder for yesterday.  To make sure that before I share their lives that I check to see if it is alright with them.  Sometimes they'll want to share the Pesto Chicken...and sometimes they won't.

Pesto Chicken

1 container store bought Pesto

1 lb. Spaghetti

1 to 1/2 Lbs. grilled chicken

1.         Rub chicken with 2-3 Tbls. Pesto.  Marinade 3 hours.  Grill chicken and dice. 

2.         Cook the spaghetti until not quite al dente (it will cook more as it sits.)  Drain.  Either cut the chicken into strips or dice.

3.         In a large bowl combine pesto (right from the package) and the hot spaghetti and toss.  The heat from the pasta will cook the pesto.  Add the diced chicken.  Sprinkle with parmesan and serve.

Thrift Thursday & Odds and Ends

I decided to show off my latest thrifty find on this Thrift Thursday.  I bought this sterling silver server last week.  It was tucked in a corner of a thrift store, under a pile of odds and ends.  Serving platters, gravy boats etc.  It is monogrammed MHR as is the silver bowl I found with it.  This piece has a block type letter sort of old engravers type.  The bowl has a traditional script.  Both silver, both monogrammed and both $7.50 each.  Whoo-hoo.

I do get teased about the whole monograming thing.  I love monograms.  They don't even really need to be my own.  I love the way they look on flatware and serving pieces.  I have a whole collection of vintage monogrammed items.   I love that someone's history is being carried on.  Perhaps sometime a long time ago loved this serving platter and now I do to.  It is kind of neat.

I had a couple of e-mails asking for a close up of the package and the chair swag from the party this last weekend as well as the Nectarine Crumble recipe.  Here ya go.

Nectarine Crumble

8 ripe Nectarines, Sliced

1 stick Unsalted Butter, Chilled

& cut into cubes

Topping Mix:

1/4 cup quick cooking Oats

1/2 cup all-purpose Flour

1/2 cup Dark Brown Sugar

Large Pinch Cinnamon

Large Pinch Nutmeg

Preheat oven to 370 degrees

Blend Topping mix with butter cubes until it resembles coarse crumbs.

Arrange Nectarine slices in a shallow baking dish.  Top with mix.  Bake 25 minutes.  Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

You can use Peaches if you like.

Seven Layer Salad

Seven Layer Salad

1 Head Lettuce, torn                             2 Med. Carrots, Shredded

4 eggs, hard boiled                               1 pkg. frozen Peas, thawed

2 Med. Tomatoes, chopped                  1 Red Onion, sliced

1 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded         5 slices Bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 cup Mayonnaise                                1 cup Sour Cream

4 tsp. Horseradish

Mix mayonnaise, sour cream and horseradish.  Let stand one hour.  Place torn lettuce in a clear bowl.  Layer on shredded carrots.  Slice 2 eggs and dice 2 eggs.  Place sliced eggs around perimeter of bowl, layer diced eggs inside.  Layer on peas then tomatoes then onions.  Spread mayonnaise mixture on top.  Sprinkle with cheese and bacon.

By the way, I don't know why this is called Seven Layer Salad when there are nine layers.  I like to make it when it is hot or for pot lucks as it can sit awhile before serving.

Salad, Sangria and Another Project

Yesterday the temperature was close to 100 and needless to say we layed very low.  I made a seven layer salad and white sangria and decided at the last minute to make some cheesy garlic bread.  Got to have those carbohydrates.

As I was making the bread my son asked what cookbook it was in.   It is just something I made up and so there is no recipe.  He thought for a moment and then said (a bit forlornly) that how would he know how to make it when he was a grownup if it wasn't in a cookbook?  It got me to thinking about the dishes I remember so vividly from my childhood.  I can nearly taste them whenever I think of them.  My Mom's roast turkey.  Her lasagna which tastes like no other I have ever tasted.   Her baked beans, her chocolate pudding cake.  Most of the time when I ask my Mother how she makes those things she just says it isn't from a recipe but just something she "threw together."   It always really annoyed me that I didn't have a better way of duplicating the tastes I loved so much.  And now I was doing the same thing.  There are things which I make that have no recipe.  Either they did at one point and after many years and modifications I make it from memory or I made it up in the first place.  I don't even think of the garlic bread recipe as a recipe.  It is just something I throw together.  Hmmm, that sounds familiar.

I am resolved to start writing down the "recipes" for those little things I throw together.  Just because it isn't difficult or "haute cuisine" doesn't mean they aren't part of my family's culinary memory.  I haven't completely decided on the format yet.  For now I'll just type them into the computer.  A little recipe book would be a great idea.  I was thinking of a small 6 x 6" scrapbook.

I am someone who writes in cookbooks. I make notes and change ingredients and jot down what goes with what and who likes (or doesn't like) what.  I received "The Cooky Book" from my great-Mother-In-Law, who I never met.  I love that she jotted little notes here and there in the book.  It makes me feel connected to this woman who my husband cherished.  A connection from her through to my children....her great-great-grandchildren.  I always knew what a neat thing that was but I had missed what a gift those everyday type recipes would be.  Maybe my children won't cook (unlikely but it could happen.)  Perhaps it will be a great-daughter-in-law who will make this humble garlic bread.  Now isn't that a nice thought.

Garlic Bread

1 loaf french bread

1 stick butter, softened

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 -1/2 cup mozzarella, shredded

1-2 TBLS. mayonnaise (if needed to make the mixture spreadable)

Mix butter, garlic, mozzarella and mayonnaise.  Cut slits in bread leaving the bottom intact.  Spread butter mixture in slits.  Lay bread on foil on a cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes or until butter/cheese mixture melts and begins to brown.

Fantastic Fourth

The 4Th of July was lots of fun this year.  Parade in the morning, BBQ in the afternoon and Fireworks in the evening.  It was just us this year so it was lower key than usual which was a nice change.

We even did the traditional burgers and corn on the cob menu.  I did do my favorite gratin dauphines recipe.  I honestly cannot remember where I first got it.  I have been making it for so many years I just don't recall where it originated.  I have included the recipe below in case you want to try it. 

I thought that today I would post images from the day.

I did the exact same urn in the exact same place last year but I just love the red geranium and ivy combination.  I love to look out my kitchen window and see this.

The garden gate.  I got the copper star last year and I have several hanging inside  as well.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

4 tbs. unsalted butter   

2 lbs. potatoes   

2 cups milk   

1 1/2 cups heavy cream 1 large clove garlic, minced   

3/4 tsp. salt   

3/4 tsp freshly ground white pepper 

4 oz. Swiss cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Coat a 2 or 3 quart baking dish with one tbs of the butter.  Slice potatoes 1/8" thick and place in a saucepan with heavy cream, milk, salt, white pepper and garlic.  Over moderate heat, stirring constantly, bring just to a boil.  Pour into prepared pan, cover with shredded cheese and dot with remaining butter. 

Place baking dish on a cookie sheet and put in the oven for 30 minutes.  Reduce heat to 300 degrees and cook an additional 30 minutes.  Let stand 15-20 minutes after coming out of the oven.

You know, it just isn't the Fourth Of July without the red shoes.  Once a year out they come.  I don't wear much red usually but on this day all the red I have comes out...which consists of these suede shoes.

We sure had a great day.  Beautiful weather.  Good food.  Happy Family. ..and me in my red suede shoes.  I hope yours was wonderful as well.