My Year in Meals by Rachael Ray and The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman – Split Second Review on a Trip Through Barnes and Noble

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It will come as no surprise that I am a sucker for a beautiful, photograph-filled cookbook.  Cookbooks line more that one shelf in the living room as well as bookshelves upstairs.  I have old ones, such as my Grandma’s 1956 edition Betty Crocker Cookbook.  There are a few spiral-bound volumes of recipes assembled by church ladies and sold for a fundraiser and a nice assortment of 1960’s and 1970’s Better Homes and Gardens and Woman’s Day editions Baby Showers, Salads and Dinners for Two collected from garage sales.  I also have three times as many recent volumes written by chefs and culinary notables that I purchased used.  

General reference cookbooks like the Betty Crocker Cookbook provide a wealth of knowledge of the basics and a broad range of skills.  I wouldn’t make our family’s favorite Thanksgiving dressing or bake a blueberry muffin looking at any other cookbook.  I have also learned so much from recent Martha Stewart, Ina Garten and Lidia Bastianich cookbooks.  These three culinary celebrities are well-marketed, but their cookbooks have earned their place on my bookshelf because they produce reliable results and share usable wisdom and expertise.

If you are Christmas shopping for a cook of any kind, I am sure that the beautiful, clearly written, photograph-filled cookbook from the “Big Three”–Martha, Ina and Lidia will not disappoint.   

I am not much of a shopper, but of all places to browse for Christmas present ideas, bookstores are my favorite.  I wandered into Barnes and Noble and took a peek at new cookbooks by Rachael Ray, who is primarily known for cooking on television, and Deb Perelman, who authors the blog Smitten Kitchen, and has just released a cookbook under the same name.  

Above is a peek inside at My Year in Meals by Rachael Ray.  This book is exactly as it sounds–a tour through Rachael Ray’s meals in the last year, recipes and snapshots of meals she prepares at home and eats around the world.  I like the concept.  This is the basis of the majority of my blog posts–what we eat, recipes, a glimpse of our lives, my thoughts and memories.  My observations about this book relate to the way the cookbook is styled.  First, the photos look like instagram snapshots.  The color scheme bears resemblance to my Mom’s 1969 edition of the Betty Crocker cookbook–lots of red, orange and yellow and lots of retro cookware.  When you have your own cookware line, there darn well better be some product placement in your latest cookbook.  Second, there are hand-drawn lines and arrows here and there which give you the feeling that Rachael or her marketing team wanted the book to invoke a blog assembled on an Ipad.  So, with instagrammed pics and Ipad-esque scribbles  Rachael Ray’s My Year in Meals is in essence, a cookbook styled to have the look and feel of a blog.  If you like Rachael Ray’s style and want a voyeuristic tour of the food she eats, you will probably like this cookbook.  

The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook is the opposite concept–it is a blog turned cookbook.  Above is the Mushroom Bourguignon that I will definitely be cooking out of Deb Perelman’s inaugural printed tome.  Boeuf Bourguignon was so romanticized in the movie Julie and Julia that I’ve made it; and ever since wanted a legit vegetarian version so that I could get in on the fun.  Thank you Deb for delivering the probable answer to my vegetarian-foodie prayers.  

On first glance, I found the double-page spread containing photos and instructions for plump gnocchi with trapped white space right in the middle of the page.  I know she worked obsessively on this book, because I follow her blog.  I don’t blame her–the question I raise is, after working very hard on testing and photographing your recipes and writing sweetly, humorously and wittily about them, while also producing a high-caliber food blog and raising a child, can’t you count on your editor at Knopf to alert you to these minor, fixable glitches?  I guess not?  Perelman’s photos are beautiful, her recipes are adventurous but usable and she conveys her warmth and wit.  Trapped white space aside, this much-anticipated cookbook looked like one I’d want to own.

The bookshelves are bursting, but there seems always to be room for another cookbook on the shelf.

 I paused at the “Wine and Spirits” aisle to notice without surprise that beer brewing has becoming a prominent subject on the bookshelves of Barnes and Noble.  Have I mentioned that as of November 25th, we have a friend’s old fridge, re-engineered into a keg-o-rater in our basement that we just love?  I took some notes and think I will be shopping at the used bookstore in our neighbourhood for books on this subject for my sweetheart this Christmas.

As I exited Barnes and Noble, a nice array of bargain cookbooks bade me farewell.  At $7.98, the price can’t be beat, but I managed not to buy any, since I was there to shop for ideas.

 

Thanksgiving Preview

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Thanksgiving is only a few days away.  I am looking forward to it!  It will be our third year hosting my parents, in-laws and brother-in-law at our house.  Thanksgiving traditions have varied and evolved throughout my life from being celebrated in October (in Canada) to having a large gathering at my parents house or Bjorn’s Aunt and Uncle’s to a smaller gathering at our house.  This has become one of my favorite long weekends of the year being with both of our families, eating well, relaxing and having lots of laughs.  Here is a peek at last year’s Thanksgiving preparation and the resulting meal.  It is also a reliable preview of this year’s anticipated event.  There will some tweaks to the menu to keep things interesting, but we’ll serve our most-loved standbys to make sure everyone get their favorite traditional Turkey Day dish.

Meal Preparation:

1.  Our home from the front, framed by a gorgeous golden-leafed maple tree.  This year all of our leaves have fallen and have been raked and hauled away.  We’ve become much more zen about raking and hauling leaves this year.  It is a huge job, but we’re used to it, and we enjoy being outside in the fresh air and we love these gorgeous maples so much.  It sure is nice to have a cleaned up yard before snowfall this year.

2.  City Bread, drying out for stuffing.  City Bread is my favorite rye bread from Winnipeg which made the bulk of our stuffing last year.  We’re due to visit the ‘Peg, our freezer is empty!

3.  Last year I brined the Turkey using this recipe from Macheesmo.  Everyone reported the bird to be juicy and flavorful and despite concerns, I was pleased that I could still make a tasty gravy using the drippings.  This year I am not brining the bird.  Bjorn is brining a bone-in turkey breast that he will smoke, so I’m skipping that step since my roast turkey will play second fiddle.  I wouldn’t roast a turkey, but we simply must so that we can make gravy!

4.  Our little house from the back, again the maple leaves last year were gorgeous.  This year, with the leaves down the focal point of this view of our house is the new roof, which is cottage red.  I love it, but I’m waiting for some finishing work to be done in front before I post pictures.

5.  Toasting sage from the garden for my Mosaic Stuffing.  I call my dressing Mosaic Stuffing because I clean out my freezer and use up the random loaves, rolls and bread ends that I’ve been hoarding in the freezer for the last few months.  I love using a variety of bread with different flavors and textures as a basis for my dressing. I follow my Mom’s dressing recipe which comes together on the spot with her coaching.  It is a simple recipe with bread, butter, sautéed onions, celery, salt, pepper, sage, broth and milk, similar to the recipe from the 1967 edition of the Betty Crocker cookbook but with some extra love and instinct as to seasonings, amount of milk and cooking time.  We like it crispy on top and moist in the middle.

6.  Sauteing celery and onions in butter for the stuffing.

7.  Two pans of stuffing, one for today, and the next for the equally important Leftovers Meal, eaten tomorrow.

8.  We round out our plates with a variety of roasted root vegetables:  carrots, parsnip, and beets, coated lightly in olive oil and tossed with a generous handful of chopped fresh herbs.

9.  Last year I grew one square foot of turnips which we saved for Thanksgiving.

10.  Bjorn made the turnips into a Turnip Puff.  It was a tasty vegetarian side dish, though it isn’t on the menu this year since we didn’t grow turnips!

11.  Scalloped Corn is another Thanksgiving standby which will be repeated this year, except this year I am going to add more whole corn kernels as well as creamed corn and bake it in a cast-iron skillet.

12.  We make a huge pot of creamy, buttery mashed potatoes because everyone loves them.  I was very disappointed by the potato selection last year at Lunds– by the time I got there to shop, so many of the potatoes were green.  This year I bought a bushel basket of Yukon golds from the Saint Paul Farmer’s Market.  There isn’t exactly a crowd shopping at the market this late in the season, so I had my pick of potatoes and the friendly seller assured me they had just been dug and wouldn’t be green by Thursday.  Shrinking the carbon footprint of our meal where I can, and having my selection of freshly dug potatoes is win-win in my book.

13.  It is an all-hands-on-deck meal situation at our house.  I haul out the roaster, use the crock pot and have every precious square inch of kitchen counter and table space in use to prepare this meal.

14.  In contrast to the last two years, I bought a turkey from Lunds instead of from the Farmer’s Market this year.  I haven’t had a lot of success buying a local turkey.  I stood in line for two hours in 2010 to pick up a monstrous golden turkey, and could hardly thaw myself or get the bird cooked in time to eat the next day.  Last year, our pre-ordered “fresh” local turkey was frozen and missing a wing.  I’m willing to pay for quality locally grown meat, but when I’m paying a premium, I need to be assured that quality will be delivered.  This year, I wanted a smaller bird and so I went the easy route.  Yes, I do feel a bit guilty for not buying totally local when I can, but I decided to give myself a break.  I am much happier with a completely fresh, free range bird which weighs about 12 pounds.  I will be stuffing the bird with herbs and fruit, and covering it with butter and bacon, which is a family tradition, passed down from my Grammie.

Grammie roasting a huge turkey topped with bacon.  Look at that Golden Bird!  

15.  Even though I used an electric roaster and crock pot, the oven was packed.  I’m planning fewer dishes this year so we should have oven space to spare.

16.  We will set the table using our Mikasa Cameo Platinum wedding china.  It is simple and clean-looking, and I love it.  This year, we have the full set including gravy boat!  I am going to warm up the table decor a little bit this year, more candles, more colour, though the plated food will remain the focal point.

The Thanksgiving Meal:

1.  Get a load of that plate of food!  You will note that we enjoy both traditional cranberry sauce made by my mother-in-law, and jellied from a can.  We also are so very fortunate that my mother-in-law and Bjorn’s Grandma make lefse together.  My Dad and Grandfather were born in Norway, but they moved to Canada without packing their traditional Norwegian recipes, so I am pretty pleased to have married into a family in which the lefse-making tradition is going strong.  I have had a lesson from Bjorn’s Grandma, and I will share that some time.

2.  Mashed potatoes topped with chopped chives.  I dried tons of herbs from our garden which I will use in Thanksgiving dishes and throughout the winter.  This is a meal where I splurge on fresh herbs, though hopefully never again after this year, since I’m planning to plant a little indoor herb garden soon.  They make everything look great and they add wonderful flavor and color that I love to see on our Thanksgiving table.

3.  “Don’t drown your food” was a catchphrase from educational children’s public television.  That message sunk deep into my brain.  This is the one time of year I ignore it.  To me, pumpkin pie is only to be served with a mighty dollop of sweetened, freshly whipped cream.

4.  What is my key to a stress-free Thanksgiving?  Say “yes” when people offer to bring things, especially things you aren’t good at making.  I have never in all my born days baked a pie.  If we’re lucky, maybe I never will.  Thanks Mom!

5.  The table looks festive once it is covered in an array of platters topped with appealing, sumptuous Thanksgiving standards.  We’re ready to dig in!

6.  Another impressive plate of food, this one topped with the brined, roasted turkey.  You can see the lovely roasted golden beets on the right of the plate.  They will be making an appearance again at our Thanksgiving table this year.

7.  My immediate family, from left to right, my Mom, mother-in-law; brother-in-law, Dad, father-in-law and my darling Bjorn.

8.  Another view of the table, close enough to see the roast turkey, carved and arranged by Bjorn, and a gorgeous platter of carrots and parsnip covered in herbs.

9.  We have a buffet in our dining room which holds the dinner-table overflow.  Here, wine bottles are ready to top-up our glasses, dressing stays warm in the crock, and scalloped corn and turnip puff are ready to be devoured.

10.  My Mom’s homemade pumpkin pie.  Pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving is a homey tradition we can’t do without and her pie hits the spot.

11.  The men all managed to nod off for a well-timed nap right after the meal was over.  I have to wonder if tryptophan is the cause, or if they’re employing well-timed dish-washing avoidance strategy?!

12.  Later in the day we manage some how to get hungry again.  We set a less formal table with sandwich fixings and haul out the turkey platter.

13.  We round out the turkey sandwich meal with salty snacks and cookies that my Mom and Val bring.  We’ll have a full-fledged Leftovers Meal tomorrow.

We have so much to be thankful for and we are so truly grateful, wishing you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving week.  

Homemade Perogies — Comfort Food for a Winnipeg North-ender

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Last weekend when it came time to eat, both Bjorn and I were hungry for the same thing:  “real food.”  We’ve been raking tons of leaves, the air is chilly, it gets dark early at this time of year which is more than enough to make a person crave warmth and comfort.  To us, “real food” is the food that we would have eaten as children.  It is wholesome, homemade, hearty and satisfying– something Grandma would make.  This particular meal is one I grew to love as a child but isn’t one that either of our Grandmas would have made–though amazing cooks, there isn’t a Ukrainian among them.  I grew up in the North End of Winnipeg so many of my friends and classmates had a Baba.  There is a large population of second, third and forth generation Ukrainians settled in the North End.  Family recipes are preserved and propagated through their use at wedding socials, at social clubs suppers, church fundraisers and in restaurants that serve good, home-style Ukrainian food.  I can say with assurance that even without a Ukrainian relative, any Winnipegger worth her salt knows a good perogy.  To me, perfect perogies are filled with a cheesy potato mixture, boiled and fried with onions until they are golden and crispy and served with sour cream.   Perogies can be the center of a meal on their own.  When served with borscht, holobtsi, kovbasa and a slice of City Rye or Pumpernickel bread and butter, you are having a homey, North End feast.  I set about to make perogies from scratch for the first time last week.   I didn’t have the advantage of Hunky Bill’s Perogie Maker or a Baba’s recipe so I followed my instincts and took some guidance from a pierogi recipe by Martha Stewart.  Martha is Polish so she uses the Polish spelling for Pierogi.  Each Eastern European country has their own name for a perogy, and each family has their own variation on the recipe and favorite way to serve perogies.  Whether you call them perogies, pierogi or varenyky the general concept of a perogy is the same:  a soft, unleavened dough is stuffed with potatoes, vegetables, herbs, cheese or meat, boiled and sometimes fried, and typically served with fried onions and sour cream or jam. I made half the quantity of Martha’s dough and potato filling, doubled the cheese and I channeled “North End Baba” while a I rolled, stuffed, boiled and fried.  I found the dough forgiving and easy to handle.  I floured the counter and rolled the dough to 1/8 inch thickness, then cut as many rounds as a I could with a juice glass.  I measured the cheesy-potato mixture into each round with a scoop to avoid over filling any.  The potato mixture is the consistency of dry mashed potatoes, since it contains no milk or cream.  It was surprisingly easy to stretch, fill and pinch the soft dough to form tightly sealed, plump crescents.  I boiled all of the perogies in batches of 8 or so.  Not a single one burst open.Some people stop here and eat perogies after boiling them.  We tasted one, and found it tender and thoroughly cooked, but the next step of frying the boiled perogies with onions is my favorite preparation.  After boiling the perogies, I froze half of the batch, spreading them out on a lightly greased cookie sheet and covering them with saran wrap to fry up another day. Roasted red beets are a good side dish to serve with perogies.  So often I read recipes for roasting beets skin on and then slipping the skins off after they are roasted.  I find this to be a messy way to nearly burn my fingertips and dye them pink.  Instead, I peeled and sliced red beets before roasting them.  I coated them lightly in olive oil and sprinkled over some thyme from our garden that I saved and dried, and roasted the beets at 425 degrees for about 40 minutes.

I love the way roasting a vegetable with herbs deepens its flavor and intensifies its color.  The aroma of roasting thyme is the inside-the-house equivalent to autumnal the scent of fallen leaves.

 I fried our perogies in butter with sliced onions. The results were exactly what we were hoping for– my perogies were homey, satisfying and so delicious that I could hardly believe I made them myself.  The meal took me right home to Winnipeg, I will always be a North Ender at heart.  

Thanksgiving Brew

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Bjorn started brewing beer last year, and we enjoyed his first efforts very much.  He uses brewing kits from Northern Brewer, a brewing supply store here in Saint Paul.  A kit is a great way to learn the brewing process, which is fairly involved, and still expect tasty, drinkable results.  Now that it is fall, it is time to begin brewing again.  Last weekend, Bjorn started a batch of Brickwarmer, a Holiday Red Ale which should be ready in time for Thanksgiving dinner.

The day before brewing, Bjorn activates the yeast.  Brewer’s yeast arrives in an envelope that is activated by smacking the package.  The envelope expands for 2-12 hours.  This can be added directly to cooled wort, or used to make a yeast starter which allows the yeast a chance to eat the wort and multiply before it is pitched, or added to the wort to begin fermentation.  It also makes our kitchen smell like rising bread.  To make the yeast starter, Bjorn heats water and adds malt extract and boils this mixture into wort.  Once it has boiled for a while, the wort is cooled to 75° and yeast is added.  This mixture in transferred to a flask which sits on a stir-plate for about a day.  A small magnet inside the flask keeps the mixture stirring.

On brewing day, our house fills with steam and the heady aromas of yeast, malt and hops.  Here, Bjorn is steeping specialty grain into the water to add colour and flavor.

Apparently, we’re not going observe the “Washing Vegetables Only” label on this washtub…here, malt extract is warming in hot water to help it pour easily.

Bjorn making wort by adding the liquid malt extract to water.

The brew master is starting the wort boil, avoiding boil over (read: mess) and anticipating hot break.  He is also anticipating a Minnesota Vikings victory.

Boiling the wort after the second hop addition.

Once the boiling and adding of malt and grain is completed, the wort has to be cooled before you can pitch the yeast.  Last year, Bjorn used an ice bath in the sink to cool the wort in the kettle.  He found that an ice bath wasn’t efficient, so this year he bought a wort chiller.  A wort chiller is attached to the sink, and circulates cold water through copper tubes inside the kettle which chills the wort quickly, leading to better beer.  First, the wort chiller is sanitized in the boiling kettle of wort.

It took Bjorn some quality time sitting on the floor with a Menards employee searching out a series of sink and garden hose connectors and adapters that allow the wort chiller to connect to our sink.  3 garden hose and sink connectors later, we were in business.

Using the wort chiller, Bjorn reduced the wort temperature from boiling to the mid-seventies in 13 minutes.

Several steamy hours later, the wort is aerated, the yeast pitched, and the carboy of beer is topped with an airlock to allow bubbles to escape while the beer ferments in a cool, dark closet in our basement.  I’m looking forward to tasting this beer at Thanksgiving!

Dining at the counter at Bar La Grassa –Hip-n-Homey

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We’ve been to Bar La Grassa a handful of times.  It is one of my favorite places to go out to share a special meal.  Why?  I am universally pleased by fresh pasta and that, combined with Bar La Grassa’s bustling atmosphere makes for an enjoyable dining experience.

When it is just the two of us, we usually choose to sit side-by-side at the long counter that separates the kitchen’s front line from the central dining room.  An open-kitchen in a nice restaurant is no longer uncommon, but spending the meal perched directly at eye-level with the kitchen staff in the midst of busy preparation makes for a fascinating, voyeuristic experience for a diner who is interested in the process behind the product.

To me, the front-row vantage point is a marvel.  There is constant, well-choreographed motion.  Each person moves though the rhythms of their kitchen duties with the calm agility that comes from practice and repetition.

This kitchen’s output is impressively efficient and quite tasty.  Bjorn has occasionally ventured into somewhat adventurous territory, ordering the braised rabbit and sweetbreads that make their way on to the menu.  Tonight, we decided to share a few small plates, so he stuck to the meat-free options.

Everyone and their brother crows from the rooftops over the Lobster and Soft Egg Bruschetta at Bar La Grassa.  I have no doubt that its is amazing.  I’ve found that the other somewhat uniquely topped bruschettas are also fun to try.  We sampled the Gorgonzola Picante Bruschetta with Peperonata.  The thick slices of bread, grilled before our very eyes are rustic and ample, and the slight char is lovely.  For once, a bruschetta that has enough bread to hold its toppings!  It’s the little things in life, isn’t’ it?

We decided to share two small pastas, the first, from the “fresh pasta” column on the menu, Silk Handkerchiefs with Basil Pesto.  I thought this pasta was tasty, but to be honest, we both agreed my homemade Mandilli de Saea al Pesto is far better!  This dish is at its best when a silky, almost transparently thin fold of pasta is just cooked, then gently coated with a melting, creamy pesto that covers each fold in a thin, uniform, glistening green.  Rolling delicate mandilli and grinding pesto to the texture of cream is a bit of a persnickety process.  It is not conducive to speed or mass production.  Bar La Grassa’s noodles were thin, but a little too soft, and the pesto tended to the chunky and too-oily side.  It is somewhat a matter of execution, but more a matter of taste and preference, and of course, the effort that goes into making it at home makes it better.  I am not the only one who thinks they can pull of this dish just as well meal at home…

Our second pasta selection, from the “filled pastas” category on the menu was the Mushroom and Tallegio Agnolotti.  We both liked this dish though by the end, I thought the mushrooms were over-salted.  The wrapped-candy-shaped Agnolotti were tender and filled with a perfectly lovely Tallegio.  This was Bjorn’s favorite dish of the meal.

One of the feats Bar La Grassa has somehow managed to accomplish is to be at once swanky and unpretentious.  To me, this is the perfect combination of characteristics for a restaurant in the Minnie Apple, the hip-n-homey heart of the Midwest.  The the restaurant has the typical “see and be seen” vibe of an upscale restaurant yet the hosts are welcoming and always find us a place even when the median fashion sense of the restaurant’s clientele eclipses ours.  I have, in fact, seen and said a quick “hello” to Minneapolis food personality, Andrew Zimmern during a previous visit with Bjorn and my mother.  In contrast to the overall swankiness, I’ve dined next to a couple decked out in Minnesota Golden Gopher gear from head to toe.  The highfalutin to homespun contrast also comes through in the restaurants serving ware.  If you are looking at your plate, you might think you are dining in the humble kitchen of an Italian Grandmother rather than the spacious dining room of Isaac Becker, a James Beard Award-winning chef.  All the food comes out on heavy, standard-issue restaurantware plates with all varieties of patterns. There is also the pleasant contrast between the kitchen’s credentials to price.  The head chef and the restaurant have received plenty of accolades, however, it is possible to have an appetizer, a few small plates and a few glasses of wine or beer and dessert, and still spend under one hundred bucks.  And to leave totally satisfied.

We don’t often order dessert, but because of sharing small plates, we still had room.  We selected the luscious, Dark Chocolate Pot de Crème with a Hazelnut Nougatine which was a magnificent finish to our meal.  I love the fact that it was served in a little canning jar.  I stole this idea from Wise Acre Eatery and used it all summer to serve individual portions of salad and condiments.  I loved the Pot de Crème.  What a treat.

We have found that Bar La Grassa consistently offers a solid Italian dining experience.  Bar La Grassa’s execution and noble parentage thoughtfully contrasts with its “room at the counter” welcome and good value.  Given the opportunity to gawk into a high-end kitchen while dining from a menu curated by a James Beard award-winning chef, will we go back?  You betcha.

*For the record, I used my phone without flash to capture these quick shots, so they are a little lower in quality, but I’m not going to be that person who totally irritates her dinner date and other guest by noticeably photographing her meal.  But really, who isn’t documenting absolutely everything these days?  If Adam Roberts from Amateur Gourmet does it, why can’t I?

Backyard Baby Shower for Betsy

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I have a small group of girlfriends from school who all live around the Twin Cities with their wonderful husbands and significant others.  We all have busy lives, so we don’t see as much of each other as we could before we all grew up and joined the workforce, but we manage to keep in touch by making sure every big event in each of our lives is celebrated.  There are 5 of us in total which means we all get a chance to host small group celebrations every time someone gets engaged, married or has a baby, or in the lulls between those milestones, someone hosts a brunch or a game night.  In early September, I hosted a baby shower for Betsy, who was expecting a baby girl.  This is the chevron shower invite that I created at ontobaby.com, a great website that I happened upon that allows you to customize colors and content and create many neat things for free, and then print them, or send them out via email as a PDF.  Since the shower, teeny little Vivian Kiyoko arrived, and she is beautiful and I am so thrilled for Betsy and her husband, Sam that they are parents of this perfect little person.

Like most easygoing and enjoyable parties, this one started with advanced preparation.  I made a full recipe of Martha Stewart’s Corn and Zucchini Orzo Salad.  The salad was lemony with juice of 3 lemons and zest, kicky from the jalapenos from our garden, tasty and light, but the recipe, which reports to yield 6 servings yields something closer to 16 servings.   I guess the pound of orzo pasta, 6 medium zucchini and 6 ears of corn should have been a tip-off.  Everyone loved the salad and it made for some good leftovers the next week for lunch.  I served the crumbled feta in a separate bowl so each person could add their own.  Somewhere along the line while preparing for the shower I read an article about all the things pregnant and nursing moms aren’t supposed to eat, so anything that could vaguely be construed to be unpasteurized or uncured was served separately, even though most of my groceries probably satisfied both of these pregnant-person dietary requirements.  I’m a vegetarian in a mostly meat-eating world, so I am (over)sensitive to this sort of thing. I am so glad that Tea Sandwiches and Deviled Eggs are back in vogue.  I like both of these baby shower classic snacks, so I made both.  Tea Sandwiches are perfect baby shower bites–they are small, cute and girly.  I made cucumber tea sandwiches with cream cheese and chives, and smoked salmon tea sandwiches with the same spread.  Both the sandwiches and classic deviled eggs were yummy.   Decorations are one of the things that make a gathering into a party, so even though this is a small shower with a group of girls who gather with some regularity and don’t rely on pretense, I had to decorate.  Betsy was expecting a girl, I took that as license to go pink. I cut dots out of pink felt and strung them into a garland on embroidery floss.  Each felt dot is secured to the embroidery thread with two hand-stitched french knots.  [Try saying that five times fast.]  I stuck these around the patio with pink striped washi tape. I also hung pink tissue paper balls from the house and our patio lights with washi tape. I bought little pots of pink mums; hearty ones, like the moms and moms-to-be at the shower.  I wrapped the pots in poufy pink tissue paper, shiny clear wrapping paper and secured the paper to each pot with a wide pink ribbon, tied in a bow.  The hearty mums decorated the table and served as a little favor for each person to take home. I marked every person’s place at the table with a plant stake topped with a pink polka-dot name card that I made with a strip of card stock, further embellished with washi tape that I stuck into the pot of mums at each place. To round out our lunch I served antipasto skewers which consist of golden cherry tomatoes, marinated artichoke heart quarters, salami, fresh mozzarella, marinated mushrooms, peppers and seasoned olives from the grocery store olive bar threaded on to short bamboo skewers, dressed lightly with balsamic vinaigrette and garnished with fresh flat-leaf parsley from our garden. I set up a buffet table on the patio so that we could help ourselves to food and drink while we relaxed and talked.  I set out pink tumblers and reusable striped straws as well as champagne glasses out so everyone could pour their own pink lemon-aid Arnie Palmers  from drink dispensers and San Pelligrino sparkling water from the bottle which was sitting on ice.  I also set out bottles of fruity Joaia and Izzy’s soda, and of course, we popped a bottle of champagne.  I served mixed nuts, mints and bridge mix in a cut glass candy dish, another nod to classic baby shower fare that I am happy to revive. Desert was simple and totally a highlight.  I whipped cream and stirred in sugar and vanilla, and sliced strawberries and blueberries which macerated in sugar in the fridge.  The whipped cream and fruit were a delicious topping to a white cake made in a bundt pan, served with coffee. Betsy took home a nice assortment of cute baby gear, books, clothes and other essentials, and this cute Locally Grown Clothing Co Minnesota onesie.  Nice pick, Alison. September was a busy month!  Having to buy a new car and getting a new roof for our house and a few trips out of town took the time I’d normally devote to blogging, but I’m back and planning to share a few “catch up” posts about the fun we’ve been having, stop back!

Barrio in Saint Paul and Minneapolis

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We’ve been to the Saint Paul location of Barrio, next to the Bulldog on Mears Park and the Nicollet Avenue location of Barrio a handful of times in the past few years since they opened.  There has been a long lull since our last visit, and we made up for it recently by making it to both locations in one week.  

We had a heavy snack / sort-of supper at the Saint Paul Barrio location the other night after attending the 25th Anniversary Party at Summit Brewery.

This meal reminded me that I love the corn chowder with roasted poblano peppers and queso fresco at Barrio, and I sure do wish that one single quesadilla, taco or enchilada on their menu was made without meat.  With the first trip to Barrio in a long time taking place over the dinner hour behind me, I realized that the winning reason for a vegetarian to visit Barrio is for a snack and a drink.  Thankfully, I had the opportunity to do just that at the Nicollet Mall location a few days later.

Bjorn and I planned to meet at the downtown Minneapolis Barrio location after work the other night to enjoy a summer’s end, last hurrah patio happy hour.  I arrived before him and ordered a Caesar Chavez, Barrio’s “Champion Margarita” made with Traditional Reposado tequila and served in a heavy tumbler on the rocks with ice and a big wedge of orange and lime–very refreshing.

During both September 2012 Barrio visits, we’ve delved into Queso Fundido.  It is a gooey-melty cheesy extravagance served hot in an oven-proof dish along with a basket of warm tortillas.  Fortunately, the rich Fundido is not served in an over-abundant portion if you share it among a few people.  The tortillas are soft, fresh and arrive warm with zig-zag char marks, having kissed the grill before being tucked into a woven basket and hurried to the table.

We are used to the ubiquitous “Chips and Salsa” served for free or cheap at Mexican restaurants.  Chips and Salsa are great for staving off hunger but can be accidentally filling and fairly ho-hum if the salsa lacks character or the chips aren’t fresh.  At Barrio, the chips are house made and are a little on the too-salty side–chug your water, not your cocktail…  Their redemption is that they are served with an assortment of 3 house-made salsas, ranging from hot to moderately hot, and a salsa verde which proved to be interesting, plenty kicky and fun to eat.

In both the Saint Paul and Minneapolis Barrio locations, the atmosphere is something to behold:  Mexican wrestling masks, a towering wall of tequila bottles, glittery graffiti-style paintings adorning the walls, candelabras drenched in dripping candle wax and a shining welded-metal toro presiding over it all…Barrio means neighbourhood, this ‘hood is relaxed and lighthearted, yet hip, with a funky edge.  

And, it sure is a great place for a snack.

Lovely Labor Day

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Labour Day Weekend 2012 was probably the best on the books.  We were at the lake with my parents;  truly a magical place that we get to enjoy all year round.  The weather was perfect this year, so we filled the hours with our favorite summer pass times: boating, swimming, water-skiing, bon fires, leisurely meals, visiting family, a great meal at Companeros, 4-wheeling, sunsets, coffee on the dock, magazines, garden strolls, board games, long talks and lots of laughs.  It was the best.

Cucumber Days

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Take two, I had a few issues with my first post made from my Ipad, so I’ll try that again… 

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3 years into gardening, this is the first year we’ve had any success with cucumbers. This year, we are enjoying them regularly in salads, on tacos and most commonly sliced thin, perhaps peeled, and tossed into a bowl with cracked pepper, sliced purple or white onions, snipped fresh herbs, such as chives, flat-leaf parsley, or dill all soaked in white vinegar and a splash of water. This is a taste from childhood that I learned to love at my Grandma’s house, fresh from her garden. We are harvesting spicy Serrano and hot, citrusy Lemon Drop peppers every day.  I have been chopping these and tossing them into the vinegar-water mixture. It mellows their bite enough to make them a perfect, punchy but palatable addition to the mix.  I consider this sliced cucumber, onion, hot pepper and herb mixture a perfect summer side dish, snack, condiment and salad.

There are two schools of thought on the ubiquitous sliced cucumber side dish, one vinegary, like mine, and the other, a creamy version made with sour cream. Check out this recipe for the creamy version of sliced cukes on Deucecities Henhouse, a favorite Twin Cities based blog haunt of mine.

Watching the cukes grow has been almost as much fun as eating them. Ours are growing in all sorts of unconventional shapes. I spend time every week tying tomato plants to chicken wire and winding twine around bamboo poles to support green beans, peppers and peas. Cucumber vines take the initiative of sending out tendrils that stretch out until they find other plants and structures nearby, then curling the tendrils tightly around so they hang tight. Cucumbers are fully capable of supporting themselves.