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Archive for the ‘Amuse-bouche du jour’ Category

Day #19 – The MOST PRECIOUS Foodie Gift

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, BY THE WAY, Everyday Food, tagged , , , , , , , on December 7, 2013| 1 Comment »

Delicious!

Delicious!

No, it’s  not what you think – not Italian white Alba Truffles that cost $188 for an 8 ounces!  It’s not Beluga Caviar which costs $200-$300 per ounce, no, it’s something you can’t buy, you can’t return and you can only have it ONCE.  

It’s your time!  When you make make something or bake something for a someone and give it as a gift, they are receiving TWO gifts.  You have made a soup, baked a cake or whipped up a souffle, surely something  you know your friend will appreciate and enjoy;  But you had also given a gift of your time, your life, an hour or hours you can never get back.  A real Foodie knows what goes into creating culinary masterpieces, knows that the shopping for ingredients, the prepping, and the making all take time!

Today I’m suggesting you bake some DOUBLE CHOCOLATE BREAD;  The recipe makes one loaf and takes about 1 1/2 hours.  

INGREDIENTS
1½ cups all-purpose flour

¼ cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

3 eggs

½ cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup dark-chocolate chips

Confectioners’ sugar, as garnish
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. Add the butter, eggs, sour cream and vanilla, then mix with a whisk until well combined.

3. Gently fold in the chocolate chips until they are evenly distributed.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. It should fill the pan a little more than halfway.

5. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 50 minutes to 1 hour.

6. Let the bread cool for 15 minutes in the pan, then remove it from the pan while it is still warm by inverting it onto a cooling rack. Cool completely before slicing and serving. If desired, finish the loaf with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar.

 Wrap in cellophane or Saran Wrap and tie a ribbon around it.  Or you can present it à la Martha Stewart and wrap it up in brown craft paper and tie with the classic red and white bakery twine.

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Sleet and Ice in Arkansas? REALLY? Yes Really!

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, BY THE WAY, tagged , , , , , , , on December 6, 2013| Leave a Comment »

If you’ve been following this blog for a while you know that last January I wrote about my very own Personal Banker. https://pbenjay.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=10832&action.  His name is Damon Miller and he is the Branch Manager of Arvest Bank in Mena, Arkansas.  Today I called Damon and before I could state the reason for my call, I was greeted with “Good morning Miss Lori, how are you today?”  Always cheerful, always pleasant, that’s Damon.  

Yesterday I received an email from the bank informing me and their other customers that due to inclement  weather some of the branches might be closing early and may or may not be open today.  So I asked him about it, what was going on down there?  “Sleet and ice” he said. Most of Mena was without power due to the lines freezing and/or trees falling on them.  The bank had a back-up generator.   Oh wow I’ve been in Arkansas when they had snow and it’s rough.  The state doesn’t really have snow plows, sanders or the like to deal with snow since it REALLY is rare there.  The roads become quickly un-passable and you see vehicles skidding off to the shoulders because they don’t have snow tires or chains either!

Shortly after our phone conversation, I received the two photos below so you can see for yourself what Arkansas encased in ice looks like.

Ice-laden trees bend over under the weight of ice.

Ice-laden trees bend over under the weight of ice.

Crystalized Flowers

Crystalized Flowers

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Countdown Till Christmas – #20 Gift Ideas for the Foodie on Your List

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, BY THE WAY, Smooth or Crunchy, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 6, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I wish I had started this countdown on the first but somehow I forgot/got bogged down/was obsessing  over my granddaughter’s missing Elf on the Shelf.  Add a couple of nights devoted to movie going, a few hours at the office and all the other daily/weekly things that fill up your time.  All that and playing Scrabble online and Words With Friends lol.

Alright so I didn’t make this into an Advent Blog month, probably you don’t care one way or the other.  Well I decided to do it tonight (even though it is actually tomorrow -2am!).

Gift choices  for the Foodies on your list are almost endless.  You can go the imported wine route or single-malt Scotch, or the fancy small specialties such as caviar or truffles or choose from the myriad sources of artisanal cheeses, salamis, or smoked salmon.  Catalogs offering overnight delivery for every foodstuff imaginable are clogging the mailboxes. I really didn’t know which item to feature (Mmmm I may have an idea here about doing 2o days of gifts for Foodies), so I just picked one that sort of jumped off the page at me.

That’s it, I’m changing the name of the post, I’m going for 20 days of food and drink gift ideas.  WHY? Because I had almost forgotten the rule we have about receiving gifts;  If we can’t eat it, drink it or attend it, then please keep it for yourself because we have way too much stuff now!!

#20 – GOAT MILK CARAMELS

Want to spoil someone you love? Goat ahead. These caramels, made with goat milk, sea salt and bourbon vanilla, come in a lovely wooden gift box.  Caramels seem to be a hot item this year, I wonder if they pushed French Macaroons into second place?  You can purchase this tasty sweet treat from  bigpicturefarm.com. Cost is $50.

Sea Salt and Bourbon OH BOY!

Sea Salt and Bourbon
OH BOY!

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BLACK FRIDAY = In The Red?

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, BY THE WAY, tagged , , , , , , , on November 28, 2013| 1 Comment »

BLACK FRIDAY is one crazy, clever retail gimmick.  Get up at 4:00am to push your way into an overheated department store so maybe you can snag what? – the sought-after toy of the moment? REALLY??  The day after Thanksgiving IS the day to go shopping for Christmas presents according to a popular manipulative tradition dreamed up by the retail community.  This day which is orchestrated to create consumer frenzy is a store’s way of making up money lost through the normally slower summer season.  Add the proximity to the Christmas gift-giving holiday and you have the makings of a retail perfect storm.  They hope to end up in the black and you might just end up in the red.

Personally, Black Friday holds no appeal to me and never has.  I haven’t shopped in a Mall for a present or for that matter myself in a very long, long time.  Of course when you live in New York City, going to a mall is not really an option but I stopped shopping for Christmas presents in a mall years ago.  I like to give either really unique personalized gifts or unusual gifts.  I don’t buy sweaters, hats, ties, shirts etc as gifts.  I assume most people buy their own clothes, their own perfume and for the most part their own jewelry.  However,  jewelry is the exception to the rule;  I might purchase a ring, necklace or bracelet for someone but it won’t come from a department store and it probably will be vintage.

Tomorrow, I’m going to Walmart ONLY because it seems to be the ONLY store in my area that carries an item I need, not want but actually need. It’s not a gift, it’s a repair item.  Other than that one foray into a retail store, I hope to avoid the maddening crowds. 

English: DC USA, Target, Black Friday

Target, Black Friday (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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WEDNESDAY Is A Workaday! Pre-Thanksgiving Prep

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, BY THE WAY, Everyday Food, Ha-P 2 B in OG, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday on November 27, 2013| 2 Comments »

The day is rapidly slipping away and I’m not half done with what I need to make or prep.  We didn’t exactly get a late start this morning but we did have to go out and pick up yet a couple more things.  I would think with all of my OCD planning and list-making that I would have everything I need. 

So far the cranberry sauce has been made and the cornbread-mushroom-sausage stuffing has been baked.  In this house you have to make as much as you can in advance because my stove and oven are so small.  When I think of the buyers in New York who when they see any kitchen, the first thing they say is, “We’ll have to renovate the kitchen”.  Cracks me up every time!  You would think New Yorkers actually cooked in their apartments.  Yes they do somewhat but not enough to insist on a Wolf 4-6 burner stove or Miele dishwasher and a sub-zero refrigerator!!  JUST try to imagine what a 20″ inch stove looks like and how small the oven is and how close together the burners are to one another.  That’s MY stove and I’m cooking Thanksgiving dinner on it!

A Turkey Doesn't Fit in the Oven

A Turkey Doesn’t Fit in the Oven

This was a mini-break while the stuffing was cooking and now I’m back to work.  Where is my helper? Oh he had to go back to ShopRite because this morning when we bought Half & Half and a disposable roasting pan, somehow we picked up a bag that was left behind by the lady in front of me.  What do I have? Turkey legs, turkey cutlets and turkey thighs.  I really didn’t have an ethical dilemma about what to do, I just didn’t want to go all the way back to the store right now.  So I called the store and they asked me what did I have because some lady had been in saying she didn’t get her items.  I had them! I said we would return the stuff but later.  Peter brought the food back and while he was there, so it shouldn’t be a total waste of time, I called him and asked him to buy more butter – the list never ends….

Back to typing, it’s been a couple of hours since I typed the above.  I just had to sit down.  I made the chocolate ricotta mousse and oy what a mess!  There were chocolate splashes everywhere;  on the microwave, on the counter, on the cord of the food processor and on me.  But that’s done  and in the refrigerator, chilling.  Speaking of the refrigerator, it’s not exactly large either.  I had Peter peel the potatoes and put them in cold water;  They’re now in a covered pot sitting on the table outside!  Cold weather affording extra refrigerator space is one of the pluses of a winter holiday.  Of course it is raining on and off  but I think the pot will be secure.  There was no space for the cornbread sausage stuffing either so it’s out there too but in a casserole that isn’t airtight so there’s inverted plastic bowl over it.  I love improvisation.

The green beans have been cooked and refrigerated, the onions have been caramelized and the tarragon snipped and stored in a plastic bag.  As soon as I rest just a bit more and type away, I’m going to inject that pricey bird breast with Emeril’s very own recipe for a brine.  I’m going have to put the garlic heads in the oven to roast, so I can then make the garlic-herb paste à la Emeril and Martha and have it ready for spreading under the skin tomorrow.

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THREE Days Till Thanksgiving!

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, BY THE WAY, Everyday Food, tagged , , , , , , , on November 25, 2013| 2 Comments »

English: A slice of homemade Thanksgiving pump...

English: A slice of homemade Thanksgiving pumpkin pie served on a glass plate (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Tuesday is shopping day for me.  I’m off to Delicious Orchards to buy a Turkey Breast, a pumpkin pie and some apple cider – AND anything else that jumps off the shelf into my basket.  I know I will get sucked into buying some of the produce and ingredients there WHEN I know I will be paying more there than at Wegman’s but I can already feel the deep-bone tiredness that comes from store hopping and grocery shopping.  

Each year I tell myself not to overdo it and that it isn’t necessary to make every dish from scratch.  Intellectually that works right up until shopping day.  For the past several nights I have been cruising around the  Martha Stewart, Real Simple and Cooking with Nonna web sites and for every dish I eliminate, I add yet another.  I really love to make special dishes and prepare meals like Thanksgiving.  It’s not like I am creating dishes necessarily of my own, since if you read this blog, you know I pick out recipes that I think will be delicious.  Over the years I have compiled a large Thanksgiving recipes folder.  It’s filled with several different root vegetable soups, lots and lots of side dishes, salads, a good number of stuffing recipes and of course a bunch of ways to prep and season the turkey.  I even have pie recipes in there but I have to admit once I discovered Delicious Orchards, I haven’t made a Thanksgiving or Christmas pie.  However, lest you get completely disillusioned, let me state that I do make desserts, such as a cranberry trifle, a pumpkin cheesecake (to die for) and this year I making a chocolate ricotta mousse.

My grocery list is now a page and half and I have one day to do it all plus a few everyday errands;  You know the dry cleaner, Staples and the liquor store.  I can’t imagine cooking tomorrow night or Wednesday night, sounds like take-out Chinese!  

We’ve invited 4 guests so it will be six of us which is 3 more than originally planned.  So all of my OCD planning, recipe-reading, list making of what needed to be purchased for each recipe HAD to be revised so each dish will feed that many.  

Now if I can only find those plates!! I can’t believe I’m in this predicament, me who has no less than 4 sets of dishes in my New York apartment  cannot find the china plates for the cottage. This sounds weird I know, but here’s the deal;  The cottage has a 1950’s kitchen theme and motif so all of dinnerware and service pieces of Melmac or Bootonware or one of the other plastic dish wares of that era.  I have turquoise plates, pink plates, bowls in both colors, green service pieces, Jadite mugs, all of my glasses are from the 50’s – I just love it! I even have vintage cookware;  who remembers CLUB pots and pans?  Mine are turquoise.  However, as much as I love my dishes, I would like to serve Thanksgiving dinner on china plates and somewhere I believe there’s a set of Martha Stewart plates.  But where?  This is a teeny tiny cottage and  I know they are not in here, maybe the garage….

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Top Ten Things To Do In New York City During Christmastime 2013

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, BY THE WAY, New York Speaks, Only in New York, tagged , , , , , , , on November 24, 2013| Leave a Comment »

My previous blog(s) on what to do in New York City during Christmastime have proven to be among my most popular posts.  I’m including links to those two and am adding a few more fun things to do while you are here visiting.  You ARE coming to New York City during Christmas aren’t you?  So much to do, so little time….Top Ten Things To Do in New York City during Christmastime and the  later version: Top Ten Things To Do In New York City During Christmastime UPDATED!

The season really does officially kick off with Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade BUT each year retailers move the calendar dates closer to Halloween than Thanksgiving.  Literally I swear Duane Reade was decked out in red bows and candy canes the day AFTER Halloween.

1. ROCKEFELLER CENTER:  There’s so much holiday here that it makes the list every year. NOT only should you go and see the tree and watch  the ice skaters, you should also check out The Top Of The Rock.  With the country facing economic catastrophe and the world between two wars, John D. Rockefeller’s vision for his center never wavered. Rockefeller Center and the observation deck were his gifts to Manhattan- a place for locals and visitors to marvel at the city he loved.  Yo

u can visit this spectacular observation deck during the day or night.  I opted for a night when there was a full moon and all I can say OMG.

What You See

What You See

2. CATHEDRALS and CHURCHES:  Some of New York City’s grandest structures are the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  Among the most accessible are St. Thomas’ on Fifth Avenue and St. Bart’s on Park Ave. Take a moment and visit one or more of these places of worship, you won’t be disappointed.  The peaceful atmosphere (although a bit hectic at St. Patrick’s during Christmastime), the magnificent altars laden with red poinsettias and the glory of their stained glass windows is well worth a drop in. 

English: Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, N...

English: Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York City – Shot from the northwest corner facing southeast (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

3. THE HIGHLINE and EATALY:  There are “touristy” things to see and do and there are some that are more so.  Apparently, Eataly has become a  must see, must stop for literally thousands of visitors.  This is the gastronomic retail empire created by Lidia and family and Mario Batali.  Go, see, eat, buy and who knows you might even have a Lidia spotting.  As for the Highline, so many of my friends and relatives take visitors there, I felt I should include it.  It is a 1 mile long linear park elevated above the City and affording fabulous views.  If it’s not freezing or windy when you are here, you might want to walk along this man-made wonder which actually preserved the a scenic path where the former cargo trains ran.  

The Highline Park

The Highline Park

4. CANAL STREET: If you haven’t picked up all your gifts yet, this is the place to go.  You will find a splendiferous display of wares you won’t believe.  Handbags, perfume, gadgets, scarves, hats, gloves, jewelry, more jewelry, watches – you are truly in a shopper’s paradise on Canal Street.

5. MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC:  There are so many venues for holiday music, I couldn’t possibly list them all.  A few highlights to consider are starting December 17th are:

17 — Gotham Holiday Swing, Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, Garrison Keillor, Nellie McKay, the Hot Sardines, Jonathan Batiste & the Stay Human Band and others, 8 p.m., Town Hall, 123 W. 43rd St. $55-$65. (212) 840-2824 (the-townhall-nyc.org).

17-28 — Michael Feinstein’s Holiday @ Birdland, 8:30 p.m., Birdland Jazz Club, 315 W. 44th St. $75-$200. (212) 581-3080 (birdlandjazz.com).

19-20 — The New York Pops, “Under the Mistletoe with Ashley Brown,” conductor Steven Reineke, Essential Voices USA, 8 p.m., Carnegie Hall, Isaac Stern Auditorium, Seventh Avenue at 57th Street. $37-$112. (212) 247-7800 (carnegiehall.org).

21 — The New York Pops, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” narrated by John Tartaglia with Judith Clurman’s Essential Voices USA, choreography by New York Theatre Ballet and actors from TADA! Youth Theater, 2 p.m., Carnegie Hall, Isaac Stern Auditorium, Seventh Avenue at 57th Street. $75-$400. (212) 903-9734 (carnegiehall.org).

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Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, Everyday Food, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on November 18, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I said I was going to make it and I did but not tonight (Sunday).  I made it last night because we weren’t all that hungry for a big meal as we had taken a trip to the local turkey farm to check out what we might want to order for Thanksgiving.  The Hincks Turkey Farm, established in 1938 has a quaint little outlet shop/restaurant in Mannasquan, NJ.  We treated ourselves to turkey sandwiches.  I had the Russian Turkey and Peter had the Flaming Turkey.  Mine, you can probably guess the ingredients but his?  His had hot cherry peppers in it!  This late lunch took place close to 3:00 so as dinner time approached, we weren’t very hungry.  

Chicken Pot Pie Soup Mix

Chicken Pot Pie Soup Mix

I switched menus and made this hearty soup.  The problem with posting about it is that I didn’t make if from scratch so I don’t have a recipe to blog about.   When we were at the Orchard a few weeks ago, I spotted the soup mixes and remembered that I had made one last year and it was beyond “souper”.  The brand is Cherchies, and they make several different kinds of hearty soup mixes.  I think I paid $6.99 for the package;  You add cooked chicken to it and dumplings if you want to really make a meal of it.  And we did! I trimmed all of the meat off of the roast chicken  we had on Friday night and used it in the soup (love getting two meals out of something)  and I made dumplings with Bisquick.  What a delightful meal!  

I also purchased their Mushroom Chowder Mix so as soon as we have another nippy evening, I might make that one. 

I like to think of myself  as a good cook and love posting recipes of dishes I’ve made so I hope I haven’t disillusioned my followers tonight.

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BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK – Hey There Gen X and Y

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, Obscure Origins of Common and Not So Common Phrases, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on November 13, 2013| 1 Comment »

Brrr-rr A COLD TURKEY

Brrr-rr A COLD TURKEY

Bad Day At Black Rock, I’ve used that phrase for years and didn’t actually know where it came from until the other day. I didn’t realize it was the title of a 1955 movie starring Spencer Tracey.  Although not so much used now, the phrase which means the worst day ever, was quite popular.  I guess it’s now relegated to the likes of me, women of a certain age.  Of course if you live in Manhattan and use the phrase, people might think you are complaining about working at CBS – oh no that’s just “The Rock”, oh well…. Ah Hah! A correction from my friend, Gail – CBS is known as BLACK ROCK after all.

When I was in Florida last month visiting my daughter and the grandkids, I really got a taste of living in Gulf Stream;  It is a  very small section of Delray Beach in the historic section and I think there are about 800 families.  The school, Gulf Stream Day School IS the heart beat of the town.  It seems as if all the kids go there, dressed in their neat preppy uniforms in khaki, white and navy.  The line of cars dropping off and picking up was pretty impressive.  Then there’s The Ocean Club, where we went for a Friday night barbecue and it was deja vu all over again.  I wrote about that in a previous post; see Sun and Sand, Sangria and Surfing plus Salmon, It’s Saturday-DAY 6.  However the point of bringing that up is that by Friday I  had observed just how small this little town was and remarked to my daughter that, “This place has all the makings of a Peyton Place“.  I said this in front of her and about 4 of her friends.  They just looked at me!  Uh, what’s a Peyton Place?  You’ve got to be kidding me!  Forget the TV show, what about the movie?  Forget about it, they were clueless and I’m getting really old!

COLD TURKEY:  Did you think the phrase Cold Turkey could ever have had a meaning other than the rigors of drug withdrawal?  Yes of course it did or it wouldn’t be in this post, lol.  Turkeys loom large in American psyche and are the starring entrée at every Thanksgiving Day meal.  The phrase talking cold turkey means talking no nonsense and getting done to business.  In the early 20th century, the phrase evolved into talking turkey and also going cold turkey – just getting it done.

As I get older, the list of phrases and words lost to Generation X and Y just gets longer and longer.   But their day will come soon enough.  I’ve already noticed that what I thought was GREAT, they think is AWESOME and the Millennials think it’s SICK!  

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Throw Back Thursday

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, Friends, tagged , , , on November 7, 2013| 3 Comments »

TBT seems to be the rage on Instagram so I thought I would post a few “oldies” here.  Actually these pics have been posted before a couple of years ago.  But what the hey!

Kiki Berti

Little Chiara

Lori Press, Lyndhurst NJ

Little Me

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