Concierge Service

Anyone who knows me, knows I am a hotel snob. It's an occupational hazard from my time spent in the hotel world. Traveling the 5 star world for $59 a night will do that. I love a clean bathroom, 500 count sheets and a fluffy robe with slippers to match. And, I love a good concierge. Oh, a good concierge can change your life.

So, now that I am back to being a civilian (and paying $179 for a crappy Marriott), I need a concierge outlet. Well, I have found it. I was actually turned on to it by a friend. And, all of you have it at your disposal, too. It's your local library. I have become a library convert. My reading habit was getting too expensive and once I got over the anxiety of reading a book in 2 weeks, I decided I could handle it. I get to read all the bestsellers along with the books on my "to read" list and I never have to step farther than the front desk at the library. I use the online ordering system. I can hold books, even ones that are housed at my local library, via the online system, hit submit and then wait for the email to come pick them up. Brilliant! All without having to actually spend time in the library, think about Dewey Decimal and hunt down books. Indulgent, I know. But a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

My Summer Growmance

I had a romance this summer with my garden. It started out full of hope. I got butterflies every time I went out there to see it. Then it bloomed into a beautiful garden where everyday it brought something new and I was constantly surprised and amazed at its surprises. Then it got hot, real hot. And everything yellowed (literally) and the romance began to fizzle right before my eyes. Now, I just have remnants of what was and a broken heart.

I spent a lot in the garden this week. It needed some tending to and I had been neglectful, mostly out of sadness. I finally bought some wellies so I can stop tracking dirt through the house on my sneakers so, I booted up and dug in. I ripped out a bunch of weeds (I thought that "special compost" that cost a ton of money was an instant weed deterrent...) and I also ripped out a bunch of dead plants. The yellow squash plants died after just one crop. The green peppers, eggplant and zucchini never even made it. The cucumber vines have grown into the tomatoes and the watermelon vines are all over the place.

I commiserated with a fellow gardener yesterday. While I was boasting about my tomato abundance, she said hers never made it, she said the heat has literally fried her plants. However, she did offer a bit of hope. She said she "thought" that South Carolina has a second growing season since our warm weather season is so long. Then she sounded defeated as she told me she joined a CSA for the Fall. Oh, my broken heart.

From this:
To this:
Not sure why this idea never occurred to me before but gazpacho is the perfect summer food. It's also perfect if you have a garden, with less than perfect vegetables. So, today I turned some mealy tomatoes and off shaped cucumbers into a delicious summer treat.
I hauled out the Cuisinart only to find that it doesn't work. Every time I hit "pulse" it just clicked. Mini-Cuis to the rescue. It's hard to believe but I whipped up this up in about 10 or so batches. I've always been a Mini-Cuis fan and now I know why.

I blanched the tomatoes, even though I had some frozen I wanted to go fresh plus I had an abundance, pureed about 4 cups and then chopped about 2 cups. This recipe is easy. I used yellow peppers (green are too bitter for me) and more cucumber than called for since I had so many. I also added Tabasco to taste. And, rough chop is fine since I stuck it all in the blender anyway. This came out particularly good.

I froze a Ziploc bag full since there is no way we can eat that much gazpacho. I've developed this new method of freezing liquids: I fill a Ziploc bag, lay it on a flat plate (square is best), then flatten to remove all the air without squeezing out the liquid. Stick the plate in the freezer and when frozen I store it upright like a book. It takes up hardly any room and if I only need a small portion of the liquid, I can just break it off and defrost it. Brilliant!

Here's the recipe and evidence of how I turned my veggies into deliciousness:

Gazpacho
4 c pureed tomatoes
2 c chopped tomatoes
1 peeled, seeded and diced cucumber
1/2 chopped celery
1/2 c chopped red onion
1/2 c chopped bell pepper
2 chopped scallions
2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 c chopped parsley
2 T wine vinegar
2 T lemon juice
2 T olive oil
salt, pepper

Puree all or some of ingredients until desired consistency.
Chill for several hours prior to serving.

(Editor's Note: The second photo above of the finished product tastes way better that it looks. Everyone in my house is enjoying it...promise!)

Tomato, Tomahto

This past weekend I ran into a friend and her mother on my way out of Target (looking for my canning supplies which were not there). We got talking about canning and her mother gave me a great idea for tomatoes. Rather than can, just freeze them. With an abundance of tomatoes, some mealy and overripe, freezing is the perfect use for them. So, using her tips and a little online research, here's what I did:

Blanched the tomatoes cutting an "x" at the bottom so the skins are easy to peel.
Hand squeezed them over a strainer to preserve liquid and remove seeds.
Placed them about an 1" apart on a cookie sheet and froze overnight.
Then placed them in Ziploc bags, labeled them and put them back in the freezer.

Talk about easy!

I also made one batch of tomato sauce. This recipe is originally from Lidia Bastianich and over the years I have altered it nad now call it my own.

First I made the tomatoes (this I totally made up):
Blanch tomatoes and peel skins.
Squeeze over a strainer to preserve liquid and remove seeds.
Then I took half of the tomatoes and pulverized them in the Cuisinart - this recipe calls for both smooth and chunky tomatoes.

The sauce:
Heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan over medium heat.
Add in 2 minced garlic cloves (more if you like garlic) and let garlic soften.
Add salt & pepper.
Add in smooth tomatoes.
Then add in chunky tomatoes (I usually hand squeeze them into the pan - they should be chunky, not whole)
Add in about 2 - 4 tablespoons of sugar depending on your tastes and some dried oregano. Stir.
Bring to a boil.
Reduce and let simmer for about 1 hour.
Taste to see if you need anything additional.
Just before using, add in torn or sliced fresh basil.

This sauce can be used for lasagna, parmesan, over pasta or can be pulverized further and used as a base for gazpacho or tomato soup.

Pickled Pink

I said I was going to do it and I did. I made 2 jars of pickles. This is not a process for the faint of heart. Along the lines of making your own dough and growing a garden, it has a lot of steps and takes a long time. It also had the added pressure of botulism, as my father helpfully pointed out. I used a recipe from Whole Living and tips from Martha. I didn't have all the professional tools and made what I had work. So, if you choose to attempt this, remember you don't need to buy all the professional canning tools, although shopping is fun. Right now, the jars are cooling and tomorrow I'll break one open and test it. If all goes well, I might attempt jam.

Canned

I'm taking up canning. I know. I know. But it spoke to me from the pages of a magazine. In fact, when I turned to CityCrab and announced my latest venture, he said he supported me but I could tell he was secretly suppressing his eye roll. The real inspiration came from the vivid images on the page of tomatoes and cucumbers. I've got an abundance of those, more than we can possibly eat. So, after a bit of research and with the help of Martha, I am off to Target to buy my supplies. I figure anything I can buy at Target can't be all that hard to do.

Three Wishes

A couple of weeks ago an article in The New York Times was to my attention regarding a topic that seems to be pervasive these days: aging women, fertility and sperm donors. The article told the story of 3 women. Here's the synopsis: 3 friends approaching 40 find themselves single and yearning for children. One woman decides to go it alone and purchases a few vials of sperm. Before she uses the sperm, she ends up in a relationship and pregnant and passes the sperm to the next friend. The next friend contemplates then finds herself in a relationship and pregnant. So, she passes it to the third friend...are you starting to see a pattern? They all find themselves in relationships & pregnant with no use for the sperm. Interesting, right? Well, lo and behold, they wrote a book about their journey called Three Wishes. I picked it up and am about halfway through. The book expounds on the emotions and details of the story but the NYT article is certainly sufficient to get the gist of it. The biggest takeaway for me is the bond these women share. It got me thinking about the bonds I share with important women in my life. Some related, some not. So, when I told CityCrab the story, he was initially grossed out by it. I had to explain to him that it play out like some bad B movie. The 3 women didn't kick it with each other or the same man. And, they never used the sperm so it's not like they crossed swords or anything. But I really tried to understand what his thoughts were rooted in. The scenes played out like a bad movie. Every time we got in the car, I would bring it up. Then we'd be eating dinner and I'd bring it up or we'd be getting ready for bed, brushing our teeth and I'd bring it up. He just didn't get it. Then it dawned on me. Men don't get female friendships. They don't understand our bond. They don't understand talking to a stranger about something intimate at the nail salon. Or why we go to the bathroom together at restaurants. And they definitely don't get the dressing room at Loehmann's. This made it so much easier to understand. It also made me happy to have my female friendships.

Livin' La Vida Locavore

Here's how it goes lately in my house: I check the garden throughout the day, monitor the growth and then decide what I can make for dinner with what I've got. Apparently, I've become a Locavore, someone who eats locally. I love the challenge of developing a meal around what I've grown. I love being able to just go out and pick dinner. And, most of all, I love being able to bypass the produce section at the grocery store knowing I've got my staples at home already. Here's a few things I've been cooking up:

Grilled yellow squash
Greek salad with cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes from my garden
Tuscan Tomato Salad
Pico de Gallo with cilantro and tomatoes from my garden

Now that it's mid-season and some of my crops haven't grown at all, to my great disappointment, I may yank those and start with something new. Like everything else in life, I am making it up as I go and figuring it out on the fly.

In other gardening news, I recommend a show on PlanetGreen called The Fabulous Beekman Boys. It's about 2 former NYC corporate execs who move to upstate NY and become farmers. Fascinating and hysterical. I also recommend their book The Bucolic Plague. Disclosure: I haven't read it yet but it's on my reading list.

Grilled Corn

This item has gained some popularity in recent years. I first tasted it at Cafe Habana in NYC circa 1999. It was delicious and I instantly became obsessed with it. Like many other things I have eaten, I tried to replicate but without real culinary knowledge, I was lost. Fortunately for me in 2002, The New York Times Magazine posted a recipe for it. Over the years, we have perfected our own version of it. We can't always find the right ingredients and regular sour cream can be substituted for Mexican sour crema, however, no other cheese can replace cotija. I wouldn't even attempt it with parmesan. But, I am grilled corn snob. And, if I can find cotija in South Carolina, then most of you should have no problem. Here is the recipe - it serves 4, but you can easily make this corn a meal, in my opinion.

Shuck 4 ears of corn.
Place on hot grill turning to be sure that all sides of corn get grilled. Remove when some kernels are black and others are bright yellow.
Let cool.

Once cool, lather with sour cream.
Then dust each cob with cotija.
Sprinkle cayenne pepper on one side and serve with limes. The key to the limes is to squeeze before biting into the corn to experience the taste explosion.

Kebabs 101

Last week, I heard two different radio segments about kebabs and I was instantly inspired to whip some leftovers into something fancy. So, I defrosted a piece of meat I had in my freezer and took out the grouper from the previous night. I diced both, seasoned them with salt and pepper and placed them on skewers. Both segments had dispelled the soaking skewers in water theory so I opted not to do it. They said that the water is supposed to soak up the heat before it gets to the wood but every time I had tried it didn't work. Now I feel justified.

Then I took a squash from the garden, an onion and a red pepper, diced them and alternated those on skewers. Always cook meats together and vegetables together - this is because everything cooks at different times. I drizzled olive oil on those. I heated up the grill and stuck the vegetables on. This is an important lesson I learned - vegetables take much longer than meats. Once the vegetables looked like they were getting crispy, I stuck on the meat. Then the grouper when everything else looked about done. The grouper literally took about 3 minutes. Very easy and tasty.

So, I was thinking that with this it might be nice to have an aromatic rice. What is an aromatic rice? It's a rice lightly flavored with an herb. I had some leftover cilantro that I thought would taste good, at least in my mind. I found a few recipes on online and after having read through them I decided I could concoct my own recipe. So, here it is:

Chop abt 1/2 cup cilantro.
Juice 1 lime then zest and set aside
Mince 1 clove garlic.
In a sauce pan, saute garlic and rice in olive oil about 5 minutes. Use any rice - I used white. Rice is roughly 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water.
Once the garlic is soft, add water/broth and lime juice. Let water boil, then reduce to simmer about 20 minutes. Essentially, make rice as you normally would.
When rice is done, mix in cilantro and lime zest and serve. You may need to salt & pepper to taste.


Dinner was delicious and CityBaby enjoyed it, too.

Summer Dining

Dinner takes on a whole new meaning in the summer. I am inspired by my garden and the warm weather and the concept of whole, fresh food. I find myself steering clear of prepared foods. Each week I am trying to create dinners that appeal to everyone (a toddler included) and are fairly easy. This dinner scored high in all areas. Roasted grouper with peach salsa. Grouper is a hearty fish with great natural flavor so it doesn't need a lot of seasoning. Peach salsa is the perfect partner: fresh, sweet and tangy all at once. Here are recipes:

Grouper:
Heat a pan on medium heat and sparsely cover with olive oil - approx. 1-2 tablespoons. As pans heats, swirl oil around pan.
Salt & pepper both sides of fish.
When oil becomes very loose, pan is hot enough. Place fish in pan and let it sit for about 5 minutes. The fish should be opaque about halfway through.
Flip and let fish sit another 5 minutes. Fish should be completely opaque and should feel firm.
Remove from pan and serve immediately.

Peach Salsa:
Peel & dice 4 peaches.
Dice about 3/4 of a red pepper.
Thinly slice 2 scallions.
Cop about 1/2 cup of cilantro.
Mince 1 clove of garlic.
Juice 1 lemon (use about 1/4 cup of lemon juice)
Mix all ingredients and slat & pepper to taste.
I adapted this recipe from Cooking Light.



This dish can be served with rice - jasmine, brown, basmati or white - it all works. Bon Appetit!

Tied in Knots

Since I had that extra pack of yeast hanging around I decided to undertake the challenge of pretzels. I decided on hard pretzels even though I love soft pretzels. The last thing I need in my house is 10 soft, warm pretzels that need to be eaten within 30 minutes. Competiton eating is not my thing. I figured I could get longevity out of hard pretzels since we eat a lot of pretzels in our house. I once again turned to my trusty, old friend Alton Brown. I was even more optimistic when I read that the white flour could be substituted with whole wheat. I read through the entire recipe before I decided I could handle it. Pretzels are suprisingly much easier than both challah and pizza dough. I used course sea salt and sesame seeds to garnish. I visited both Whole Foods and Earthfare in search of pretzel salt and came up empty.

Here's the recipe and pictures.

Tuscan Salad

This is a delicious summer salad. It can be eaten on its own or as a side and uses plenty of fresh vegetables. I first enjoyed this salad while visiting our friends Steve & David in Cold Spring NY on a much needed summer break from the city. After the weekend, I couldn't get it out of my mind and begged them for the recipe. It is now an almost weekly staple in our house. Amounts are approximate - you can dial it up or down depending on your taste. This will last for a few days in the refrigerator but after about 3 days, it gets kinds funky.

1 lb. wide variety of tomatoes diced, cherry tomatoes can be quartered
1-2 English cucumber(s), diced (you can also use a regular cucumber and remove seeds)
1/4 - 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced and diced
feta cheese crumbled
balsamic vinegar
olive oil
salt & pepper

Combine all vegetables in a bowl
Add balsamic vinegar and olive oil in an approximately 2(oil):1(vinegar) ratio
Mix well and add salt and pepper to taste
Add in feta and mix well

Can be served immediately or refrigerated.
I recommend letting it marinate for a bit then re-tasting to test flavor - add any additional ingredient as necessary.

Next Stop, County Fair!

Here it is. The long awaited first crop of the season: a tomato and a squash. There is tremendous pressure to make them the star of the dish where it will make its debut. I have not ruled out bronzing to preserve their posterity. In any event, I am thrilled to have picked my first vegetables. From my assessment, more tomatoes, yellow squash, cucumbers and zuchinni won't be far behind.

I'm Sorry We Have No Bananas

If you haven't guessed by now, I am a chef by necessity. When I have food laying around I imagine what I can make with it before it goes bad. This necessitates my need to cook. I was getting tired of looking at the bananas on my counter turn black. CityBaby just came out of a banana phase. While banana daiquiris came to mind, I thought banana bread would appeal more to the masses. I found an easy and delicious recipe on food52.com, a fairly new cooking site. (Side note: cookstr is also another great resource although it is still in its beta stage.)

Here's the recipe:

3 overripe bananas (the blacker the better, unless they're moldy!)
1 cup light brown sugar (packed)
10 tablespoons butter (unsalted), at room temperature
2 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees; move rack to lower-middle position. Generously grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
2.Beat bananas with an electric mixer until smooth. Add brown sugar, butter, and eggs, and mix until completely incorporated.
3.In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and beat until smooth, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
4.Stir in the walnuts and/or chocolate chips, if you're using them.
5.Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake for one hour, or until bread is a deep brown and an inserted skewer comes out clean.

And here's my rendering, taken with my phone. Tastes much better than it looks:

Doughn't Do It

After last week's Challah Extravanganza, I had lots of yeast and flour hanging around. So, the spirit of being thrifty, I thought I would try my hand at ppizza dough. I was looking for something fast and easy. Ater perusing several recipes, I landed on an Alton Brown. Anyone familiar with Alton knows he can be a bit verbose and his written recipes are just the same. I wasn't looking for a whole origins of yeast lesson so I got started on the ingredients. The most appealing quality about this recipe was the use of the mixer - no hand kneading or rolling. My hands didn't need to touch the dough once. I followed the instructions perfectly. I then decided to scroll down 2 pages to see that the dough needs to chill in the refrigerator for 18-24 hours. Ooops. I was looking at pizza tonight for dinner. Oh well. I stuck it in the fridge and pulled it out 30 minutes before baking. It was a little tough to roll out and not as light and airy as doughs I've bought. It was very elastic and kept retracting on the pan (I went square - a tip of the hat to my hometownNew Haven style pizza) but once I got the sauce and cheese on top of it, it stayed put. It didn't roll out evenly so some areas were doughy. I really prefer thin and crispy. In lieu of a pizza stone, which I don't own, I think I would put it on the rack next time. In any event, I decided next time, I'll just buy the dough. Although I do have one packet of yeast left....pretzels anyone?

Next Caller, Please

Lately I've noticed that talking to my parents is like a radio call-in show. Upon calling, I can instantly hear the other parent talking in the background. Then whichever parent I am on with has to instantly relay the information to the other. Then there is inevitably whispering which I know means no one is listening to me. I know they are whispering about "where is the newspaper?" or "did you get the mail?." It's just plain insulting. The thing that really pushes me over the edge is the "what?" and I don't know if they are talking to me or to the other parent. So, it becomes this game where I am essentially eavesdropping on their conversation. The ironic thing is that I clearly remember my parents complaining that my grandparents would do this exact thing, for example, each would get on the phone and you could never hear my grandfather because he was on the "extension", whatever that means. I suppose life does repeat itself. I guess I should warn CityBaby.

Garden Update

So, we are just about at 50 days which is the average blooming time for most of my crops. Here's what we have: a bunch of tomatoes but none ready to be picked. Some large and very green peppers growing off the yellow pepper plant. I am holding out that they still need to turn and were not mis-marked. Some very auspicious looking yellow squash. For example, if I was going to feed a mouse family they would be perfect for them. The beans and eggplant and green peppers look like they might never make it. And I have already uprooted the lettuce. We'll try again next year on those. I have one cucumber plant that is taking off, 4 that are still small and one I lost. I am optimistic about the one thriving since it has a lot of flowers on it which means vegetables are growing right behind it. So, no crops yet and it's technically almost summer and I have not tasted one vegetable yet but as you can see from my pictures, I should be cooking up tomatoes and peppers soon.

Challah? Holla!

I was desperate for a child-friendly activity today. We've been climbing the walls all week and have exhausted coloring and painting and building with blocks and all of our play-doh is a deep gray from having mixed every color together. So, what's a good Friday afternoon actvity? Challah. Challah is one of CityBbay's (and my own) favorite foods. The teacher at school claims it was his first word. It's sweet and doughy and when it's warm, oh, it's breathtaking. What's not to love about it? And with Shabbos looming, I decided to try it. I did my research. I went straight to the experts but quickly ruled out Rita Brownstein and decided to go with Joan Nathan, she's our Mario Batali and Martha Stewart all rolled into one. So, as I learned Challah is hard work and an all day affair. Nevermind the two types of dough and making sure the yeast is actually dissolved. The kneading. Oh, the kneading. 10 minutes felt like hours and my arms felt like noodles after. Here is the dough post kneading, rising for the last time and fresh out of the oven:






































I learned a couple of things that I'll incorporate next time. I didn't need as much all-purpose flour. I will definitely use my mixer to knead it next time. And, I cooked it with a small pan of water in the oven. This was a tip I received and apaprently makes the bread softer on the inside. I got the recipe from Joan Nathan's Jewish Holiday Cookbook. Good Shabbos.

Whoop! There it is!

Yesterday, just after lunchtime I retrieved my phone from the depths of purse and was shocked to see 3 missed calls from a friend. No messages, just missed calls. Something was up. So, I called one back and she asked me in a state of panic, "Did you get a call from DHEC?" Uh, no. She instructed me to listen to my voicemail but gave me the lowdown. A child in CityBaby's class was infected with whooping ocugh (Pertussis, to you experts) and every child needed to go on antibiotic. I fle into a panic. Called DHEC, called my pediatrician, called my husband, called my parents...oy, the drama of it all. I learned more than I ever needed to know about infectious diseases. And, now I've got a potential carrier monkey running around my house....for the next 3 says...with no help. We're quarantined. It's contagious. And, it sucks.