Cafe 305

Salad with Fried Goat Cheese

2012-01-26T08:00:00.000-05:00

This is a lovely salad, and a lot easier than it might sound. Fry goat cheese? Won't it melt all over the place and make a godawful mess?

Nope. Not unless you leave it in the pan too long.

Make a salad dressing of 3 Tbs. apple cider vinegar, 1 diced and sweated shallot (remember, I don't eat those raw, but if you want to, knock yourself out. Just please don't breathe on me.), a pinch of salt, two teaspoons of maple syrup, a few grinds of black pepper, and about 6 Tbs. of olive oil. Set that aside.

Mix together about 4 cups of salad greens and a diced apple. I used Pink Lady.

I like to salt and pepper my salad before tossing it with dressing.

Now get the goat cheese ready. Get a couple of shallow pans and put a beaten egg in one and about a half cup of panko crumbs in the other. Put a small pan over medium-high heat. Cut or form about 4 oz. of goat cheese into 1/4 inch disks. You're going to want to use the firmer goat cheese here, and pack it together so it doesn't crumble.

When the pan is hot, add about a tablespoon of olive oil. Dip the goat cheese in the egg, drain off any excess, then roll it around in the panko crumbs to coat it well. Fry in the oil on each side about 1 minute or so - until the goat cheese crust is golden brown. Place on paper towels to drain and toss the salad with the dressing. Plate the salad, then top with a round or two of the goat cheese.

Here's the .pdf if you'd like to crisp up some goat cheese in your own kitchen.

Pounded Pork Cutlets with Mustard Pan Sauce

2012-01-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

This is an old favorite around here. Technically, it's schnitzel, I guess. Whatever you call it, we love it, and it's a pretty quick and easy weeknight dinner.

Start with about a pound of pork tenderloin. Slice it crosswise into rounds about 1/2 inch thick. Place the rounds between two pieces of waxed paper, and whack on it with a meat mallet or a rolling pin, or a skillet.

Salt and pepper each side while you're watching your awesome iPad that your parents gave you for Christmas (thanks!) which is playing old episodes of The French Chef for inspiration.

Julia was making croissants. I was not. But then of course, I wanted one. With some butter. And a cup of coffee.

Put about a cup of flour for dredging in a shallow pan. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat on the stove. Add about a tablespoon of olive oil and a tablespoon of butter. When the butter is foaming, the pan is ready.

Foamy butter. See?

Dredge the cutlets in flour and shake off the excess. Put them in the pan and brown on each side - about 3 - 4 minutes per side.

You want them nice and brown. Like this.

If your pan isn't enormous, you'll need to do these in batches. Put the ones that are done in a 250F oven to keep warm. When they're all finished, the pan will have beautiful brown bits in the bottom.

Add about a half cup (or a glass you happen to be drinking) of dry white wine to the pan and scrape up all that deliciousness.

Add two tablespoons of dijon mustard and stir to incorporate.

This is not yet incorporated.

Add about a half cup of cream. Taste it and adjust the seasoning if you need to, but I usually find it's plenty salty enough.

I like to serve this with rice. Now I will show you a trick that you probably already know.

Rub the inside of a ramekin with buttah. Mmmm...

Pack the rice into the ramekin.

Invert the ramekin onto the plate, and hey, presto! Little tower of rice!

Serve the cutlets with the sauce. Garnish with parsley if it makes you happy. It made me happy, so I did. Here's the .pdf if you'd like to pound some pork cutlets on waxed paper in your own kitchen.

Chocolate Peppermint Filled Ebelskivers

2012-01-23T08:00:00.000-05:00

A few years ago, my uncle got me an ebelskiver pan for Christmas. I don't normally use it for breakfast, because pancakes make me feel like a complete slug all day. I do better on oatmeal and coffee. But I've used it gracious plenty for dessert.

We had our good neighbors Morgan and Jesse (holla!) over for dinner the other night. I had my ebelskiver pan, some peppermint ice cream, and some leftover chocolate peppermint bark from Christmas. (Hey. Cut me some slack. It's only January. It's not like that stuff goes bad that fast.)

Anyway, perfect makings for dessert.

The only part of this for company that I'm not crazy about is that you really need to make the ebelskivers fresh. They aren't a make-ahead kind of dessert. But no one seemed to mind that I was futzing in the kitchen for a few minutes after dinner. They're not a major production, if you get the batter mixed up ahead, which is just fine. Yes, it is.

The recipe for the Ebelskiver batter is here. Mix it up, and you're halfway ready to go.

Set the ebelskiver pan on the stove on medium heat. Put little dots of butter in each round. When the butter turns foamy, the pan is ready.

Fill the pan just under the rim with batter. Now's the time to put in whatever filling you're using. I used pieces of chocolate peppermint bark. I've also used plain chocolate. You could use fruit, applesauce, caramel, any number of things. Just keep it small.

Top with just a dab more batter. About level with the top. Then when you see that the sides are starting to brown and pull away just a little, put a chopstick on either side of the round and flip it upside down. It may go perfectly, it may not.

But once the ebelskiver cooks on the other side, you can roll them around in the pan a little and cook those oozy seams. It cleans them up nicely.

Once they're browned all around, serve them warm with whatever you like. In this case, I used peppermint ice cream and a garnish of peppermint bark. I would have cut into one and gotten a picture, but my guests wanted their dessert.

305 Vacation to Colonial Williamsburg

2012-01-11T09:20:00.000-05:00

The residents of 305 went on a little celebratory "Thank goodness most of this cancer business is over" holiday. We'd planned it ages ago, knowing we'd probably want to get the hell out of dodge for a few days. We're clever that way.

Colonial Williamsburg is one of my favorite places, and it's only about five hours from here. It's been fifteen years or so since we visited, so the pin went on the map and off we went.

Want to see our vacation pictures? SURE you do! It's every dinner guest's nightmare! And I'm not even plying you with wine and food! You poor people.

We arrived early evening, so I still had a little light to grab some photos.

Since the streets roll up there at 5:00, (except for the taverns), we spent the evening poking around our inn and relaxing.

Accomodations were comfortable. We had the entire place to ourselves, except for one night. And that night, a bunch of the interpreters and their friends had a Twelfth Night party in the inn. They were all dressed up in their colonial regalia, dancing, singing, drinking, eating, and otherwise making merry until 1:00 AM. We were lying in bed listening and figured that was probably pretty authentic. No such thing as soundproofing rooms back then. It was noisy and boisterous. But at least we didn't have to share the room with a bunch of smelly strangers and sleep on a flea-infested horsehair mattress. It was actually pretty cool, in retrospect. Yes, they invited us to join them, but I hadn't brought my ballgown, and we figured those people have to perform for the tourists enough without us standing there, snapping pictures.

Here is the well behind our inn.

Here is Pootie, trying to take a cell phone picture of the well. And telling me to get out of the shot.

Here is where I put him after that. Those old root cellars come in pretty handy.

He actually spent a lot of the trip telling me to get out of his pictures. I didn't get one decent photo bomb in there the entire time. Bummer.

Of course, one of my favorite parts was visiting a working colonial kitchen. Here, Bob is boiling a big ol' side of beef. He gave me all kinds of cool info on what was available food-wise back then. Those folks actually ate REALLY well.

We got to take a carriage ride. The horses are the ones who pulled the Queen (yes, the Queen) when she visited in 2007. The carriage is the one she rode in when she visited in 1957. And one of the women sharing our carriage ride had actually met the Queen. As Pootie said, "This carriage ride has all kinds of Royal Mojo." I'm sure that's what Queen Elizabeth would say.

We visited the cobbler (the shoe guy, not the baked fruit thing). He said the shoes are actually very comfortable. I wanted those leather slippers.

We toured houses and saw horrible wallpaper. (Truly, their aesthetic was very different.) These three wallpapers were all within sight of one another on the same floor. Oh my god.

We saw beautiful horses and fat, happy sheep.

We saw the Peyton Randolph House, who was a lot more prominent in colonial history than most people realize.

Then we went to Jamestown for a day so that Pootie could see boats and forts and be very happy.

Then it was back to Williamsburg for more wandering and gawking.

Of course, we toured the Capitol building. Which was not original. I can't believe they tore that thing down. No one wanted it. So in the early 1800s, down it came. They rebuilt it. The one original thing in it is the Speaker's Chair in the Hall of Burgess. Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry would have sat their actual kiesters in it, so that's pretty cool. The interpreter said "This is the most expensive case for a historical object ever." (Referring to the Capitol building)

We went to a coffee house, where the Colonial men would have discussed politics, and we discussed them. We were served some seriously good hot chocolate there, too.

We had a wonderful time, and I did not want to come home.

Of course, we ate well. Unfortunately, because it was the off-season, we couldn't eat at the King's Arms Tavern, where we'd eaten one of the best meals of our lives fifteen years ago. They close all but one of the Taverns for the month or so when no one is around. Makes sense, but it was still disappointing. But anyone visiting Williamsburg should check out The Blue Talon and The Trellis. Also the kitchen at the Powhatan Plantation was excellent. And Aromas coffee house deserves special mention. Our room had one of those "coffee" makers in it that brews the most vile substance ever. We managed to snag a half pound of rich French Roast from Aromas and they gave us some filters that Pootie modified so that we could have REAL coffee in our room in the morning.

My only other disappointment was that the Raleigh Tavern Bakery no longer actually bakes. One of the things I remembered most clearly from our trip fifteen years ago was going there and seeing a working colonial bakery, and actually being able to buy their baked goods. They had delicious apple turnovers and some of the best ginger cookies I've ever tasted. Now, they mass produce the stuff, wrap it, and the RTB is just a little snack bar with coke fountains and pre-packaged stuff. Supposedly they couldn't keep up with demand and there were some Health Department issues. BOOO! But, I bought some of their ginger cookies anyway, and they were still delicious, just lacking ... character. But on my trip years ago, I had snagged one of the Raleigh Tavern Bakery cookbooks, so I can (and have) made the ginger cookies myself. So there. The ORIGINAL recipe reads:

"Take three pounds of flour, one pound of fugar (those fs for the letter s cracks me up), one pound of butter rubbed in very fine, two ounces of ginger beat fine, a large nutmeg grated; then take a pound of treacle, a quarter of a pint of cream, make them warm together, and make up the bread ftiff (hee hee); roll it out, and make it up into thin cakes, cut them out with a tea-cup or fmall (hee hee) glafs (huh?), or roll them around like nuts, and bake them on tin plates in a flack (hee hee) oven. (Hannah Glaffe, The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Eafy (with lotf of fs), 7th ed. (London, 1760).

The adapted recipe is here. I've modified it slightly (who uses margarine anymore?). So you can have a taste of Colonial Williamsburg too, if you'd like.

Huzzah, y'all!

My Little Brother

2012-01-02T10:38:00.002-05:00

This is my little brother, John. And me. A couple of years ago.

This is my little brother. And me. More than a couple of years ago.

I was cuter back then. He had more hair. Mine was significantly darker.

And before you ladies start inundating me with requests for his contact information, this is my brother. And his gorgeous wife, Natalie. She'll cut you.

They are pregnant with my first niece. Or my second nephew. Their first child, at any rate. They're waiting to be surprised in February when she arrives. I am convinced it will be a niece, and we are calling her Dwayne, since they didn't like any of my other name suggestions. (I still don't know they have against Gertrude. Or Agnes. Or Ethel.Good, sturdy names.)

He's a very talented photographer and designer. His website is way nicer than my blog. And check out Dwayne's beautiful nursery! (Yes, they know she'll have handprints and stickers and toys and clothes all over the place when she gets here, but it's still pretty.)

So I did what any big sister would do with access to that kind of talent. I bossed him into helping me do a little tiny facelift on my site. Actually, I'm not that bad. He asked what I wanted for Christmas this year and I said that I really just needed some time from him to sit down and make my blog just a little more streamlined and aesthetically pleasing. So he did. Over the internet. Because he lives here:

And I live here:

Which looks like this:

And I kind of think if people were meant to fly, all the seats on a plane would be First Class.

So thank goodness for Facetime.

It was a productive meeting and he had some good ideas. You may notice that some clutter has been removed. The archives are now at the bottom of the blog, so they're not distracting you from my fascinating writing and my stunningly gorgeous pictures. And he made me a kickass banner. I took all the pictures except one. See if you can guess which isn't my work.

And you may see a few more personal blog posts here from time to time. Food is great, but he suggested people might want to get to know me a little better, too. I think that's probably optimistic, but it's flattering, so I'll take it.

So over the next year, I'll probably be making some tweaks to Cafe 305 and posting some new things. I'd love to have your feedback, so feel free to leave a comment in the horrible, convoluted blogger comments section that should be detonated and completely rebuilt. Or, if you're into quick and easy, like I am, you can let me know what you think on Facebook.

And that's something that probably isn't going to change. Random pictures of Bigfoot and other swiped from the internet shots probably won't go away. You never know when he'll turn up.

So thanks to John for helping me out with this. And thanks to Natalie for being married to him and carrying my niece around for 9 months so I have someone to buy Star Trek mobiles and tutus for. Unless it's a boy. Then I might skip the tutu. Maybe.

Kicking 2011 to the Curb

2011-12-30T15:06:00.004-05:00

Well, it's been a year, hasn't it?
Everyone is doing those "Year in Review" things, and who am I to argue with tradition? So let's just recap 2011 at Cafe 305, shall we?

I made roasted pesto chicken.

We did some remodeling. First they took away my only bathroom.

Then when they gave it back, they took away my only kitchen.

They did eventually give it back, (the bathroom too) and it was better than ever! Definitely worth living in filth and squalor for a few weeks.

Then Tony Rosenfeld and I cooked some steaks to celebrate. Well, I cooked and Tony coached. From Boston. Where he lives and has never met me in person, actually.

Then before the shiny even wore off on the new kitchen, we found out we were going to go to Canada for two semesters. Starting THIS FREAKING FALL. OH MY GOD!

Then I cooked some more to frantically try to use up the "new" in my kitchen before we left.

Then my parents came to visit.

Then I got diagnosed with breast cancer. And the plug was pulled on the Canada trip until next year.

Then I made peanut butter cookies to make myself feel better.

Then I had a bilateral mastectomy and the first stage of reconstruction surgery.

Not fun. (Phillip Birmingham, I never did finish that Jell-O.)

But Pootie got me a star projector for my hospital stay.

That made it marginally better. Then I got home, and good friends and family cooked and cleaned for us, and sent flowers, and made things a lot more tolerable. It was really amazing and flattering how many people stepped up to help, and sent good wishes and moral support. I was lucky. And Facebook was awesome. It kept me in touch and was a consistent morale booster. Nice to know that many people who will take a minute and just say "Hey, I'm thinking about you."

It was conversely kind of interesting and a little surprising to see who went into hiding, but that's not a complaint. I promise. I understand. Cancer is one of those things that's kind of hard for a lot of people to take. It's difficult to know what to say. Or do. And it's scary. I get that.

Or, hey, maybe some people decided they just didn't like me. I get that, too.

Then I got a little better and started cooking again.

Then I got even better, and Christmas was looming, and I did a lot of baking for my friends at the office.

Then we gussied up and had a small dinner party to thank our good friends who had helped us so much after my first surgery. This year, I just wasn't up to the full-blown Christmas extravaganza we usually have.

Sometimes I clean up pretty good!

Then I had another surgery.

OK, this is getting seriously old.

Then we had Christmas. And I got some chit-kicking cowboy boots.

And I got a good follow-up from my surgeon. And some Peppermint Ice Cream.

So while my nerves are pretty well shot for the year with all the upheaval and stress, my major surgeries are all finished - just a couple of minor cosmetic procedures left - and I'm half a pint of peppermint ice cream down and armed with a pair of kickass cowboy boots.

2011, don't let the screen door hit your backside on the way out, and oh, hey -2012?

Look the hell out. I'm comin', and I'm gonna make Godzilla look like the Geico lizard.

Happy New Year, y'all!

Eggnog Pound Cake with Rum Glaze

2011-12-20T08:07:00.000-05:00

I usually take advantage of the holidays to snag a container of eggnog at the grocery (no, of course I don't make my own) and make this cake. And drink the remaining eggnog with bourbon. The rum glaze isn't overpowering, so this pound cake is just fine to toast with a little butter and have for breakfast with coffee. Hey, don't judge. I eat oatmeal almost every morning. Sometimes I need a break.

Start out by getting the glaze going. In a small saucepan, add 2 Tbs. rum (or you can certainly use bourbon), 2 Tbs. of water, and 1/4 cup of sugar. Simmer on low heat until the sugar is dissolved and the glaze is a little thicker - not quite syrup consistency, but just shy of that. Set it aside.

The cake itself is a standard pound cake with the addition of eggnog and rum for the liquid.

Preheat the oven to 325F. Grease and flour a tube pan, bundt cake pan, or use several small loaf or bundt pans so you can share with friends.

Mix together 1 cup of eggnog, 1 tsp. of vanilla and 2 Tbs. of dark rum. Set that aside. Sift together 3 cups of flour, 2 tsp. of baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/8 tsp. nutmeg (I sometimes use 1/4 tsp. I like nutmeg.) and set aside. In a stand mixer, beat 1 cup of softened butter with 2 cups of sugar until it's light and fluffy. Then add 3 eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated before adding the next egg. Turn the speed to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with the eggnog mixture, ending with dry ingredients. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan or pans and bake for 45 - 55 minutes.

Cool the cake in the pan for about fifteen minutes, then remove.

Now you're ready to put on the glaze. Do it while the cake is still warm.

Just brush it right on there.

I made several small bundt cakes and a couple of small loaves.

You can tell someone didn't grease and flour her mini bundt pan properly.

It does taste like eggnog. Perfect for the holidays. If you'd like to bake a glass of nog, here's the .pdf. Merry Christmas, folks!

Cookie Week at Cafe 305: Pinwheel Cookies

2011-12-14T07:54:00.001-05:00

Our final cookie of Cookie Week at Cafe 305 is the Pinwheel Cookie. I made these with some trepidation the first time I saw them in Fine Cooking. I thought "Oh, lord, these look too hard for me. I'm sure I'll screw them all up and mine will look like blobs instead of spirals."

I was wrong.

Impressive, no?

The recipe and instructions look a little daunting, but that's because they're detailed and precise. These guys are simple to mix up, the dough is very pliable and easy to work with, the logs are great to keep in the freezer and thaw and cook as you need them, and they are DELICIOUS. In short, they have everything going for them.

I should have taken pictures of the process, but I needed both hands and Pootie was busy doing something far away from the kitchen.

Pinwheel Cookies

Recipe By: Carole Walter
Recipe Source: Fine Cooking 68

13 ½ oz (3 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour

½         tsp           table salt
¼         tsp           baking soda
10         oz            (1-1/4 cups) unsalted butter, slightly softened
2 ¾      cups         granulated sugar
1          large       egg
1 ½      tsp           pure vanilla extract
1         tsp           instant espresso powder
2         Tbs           boiling water
3         Tbs           unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
3         oz            bittersweet chocolate, melted and still warm

Mix the dough:

Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium-low speed until smooth, about 2 min. Add the sugar in a steady stream and mix for another 2 min. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until well combined, scraping the bowl as needed. Reduce the speed to low and add the dry ingredients in two additions, mixing just until combined. Remove 2 cups less 2 Tbs. of the dough and set aside.

Dissolve the espresso powder in the boiling water and set aside briefly to cool. Then mix the espresso and cocoa powder into the remaining dough. Reduce the mixer speed to low, add the warm melted chocolate and mix just until thoroughly combined.

Roll the pinwheel logs:

Portion each flavor of dough into three equal pieces. (For accuracy, use a scale.) Shape each piece into a 5x5-inch square on a piece of plastic wrap and wrap well. The chocolate will be thicker than the vanilla. Refrigerate the dough for 30 min. (If the dough becomes too hard, let it stand at room temperature for a few minutes before rolling).

While the dough is chilling, tear off twelve 12-inch squares of waxed paper. Roll each piece of dough into a 7x7-inch square between two sheets of the waxed paper. Without removing the waxed paper, layer the squares of dough on a baking sheet and refrigerate for 10 to 15 min. Have ready three 15-inch sheets of plastic wrap.

To shape the cookies, remove one square of the vanilla dough and one square of the chocolate dough from the refrigerator and peel off the top sheet of waxed paper from each. Invert the chocolate square over the vanilla square (or vanilla can go on top of chocolate; try some of each for variety), taking care to align the two layers as evenly as possible. Using your rolling pin, gently roll over the dough to seal the layers together. Peel off the top layer of waxed paper.

Starting with the edge of the dough closest to you, carefully curl the edge of the dough up and over with your fingertips, so no space is visible in the center of the pinwheel.

Using the waxed paper as an aid, continue rolling the dough into a tight cylinder. After the cylinder is formed, roll it back and forth on the counter to slightly elongate it and compact it. Transfer the log to the plastic wrap, centering it on the long edge closest to you. Roll tightly, twisting the ends of the plastic firmly to seal. With your hands on either end of the log, push firmly toward the center to compact the dough. It should be about 9 inches long and 1-1/2 inches thick. Repeat with remaining dough. Refrigerate the logs until firm enough to slice, about 3 hours, or freeze for up to three months.

Bake the cookies:

Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Heat the oven to 350°F. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Working with one log at a time, use a sharp, thin-bladed knife to slice the dough into 3/16-inch rounds. Set the rounds about 1 inch apart on the prepared pans and bake until the tops of the cookies feel set, 12 to 14 min. (don’t let the edges become too brown). To ensure even browning, rotate the sheets as needed during baking. Let the baked cookies stand for 1 minute on the pan. While they’re still warm, use a thin metal spatula to transfer them to racks. When cool, store between sheets of waxed paper in an airtight container for up to two weeks, or freeze for up to three months.

If you'd like to roll these around on your counter, here is the link to Fine Cooking, where you can print it out. I'd also suggest that if you have a cook on your Christmas list, get them a subscription to the magazine or to the online features. It's well worth it.

Merry Christmas, folks!

Cookie Week at Cafe 305: Rum Balls

2011-12-13T08:11:00.001-05:00

I confess, these are not my thing. I make them every year because Greg at the office requests them. (He actually begs, so how could I say no?) I always warn him not to eat too many of these before driving home. They're potent!

I'm sure you've seen these a thousand times. I'm not a fan of the texture. Crushed up Nilla wafers mixed with nuts and cocoa and corn syrup and booze - I'll often use bourbon instead of rum, because I like bourbon better. But for me, they're just too sweet and mooshy. I don't like fudge either. These would be in that family. So if you like fudge, and booze, you'll probably love these. They're fast and easy. Like you will be if you have too many of them. Did I mention they're potent?

3 cups vanilla wafer crumbs
3 Tbs cocoa
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1 cup powdered sugar
3 Tbs dark corn syrup
1/2 cup Dark rum (or bourbon)

Blend all ingredients together. Form into balls.

If you'd like to booze up some vanilla wafers, here's the .pdf.

Cookie Week at Cafe 305: Peppermint Crescents

2011-12-12T07:37:00.001-05:00

I love these, of course. They're peppermint, and I love, love, love peppermint. And peppermint is Christmasy! Also, Karen at the office requested them. They're her second-favorite, right behind the potato chip cookies.

These are easy to mix up, and only slightly fiddly to make.

1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup powdered sugar, for rolling
Finely crushed hard peppermint candy (about ¼ cup)

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add 2/3 cup powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon peppermint extract, and salt; beat well. Gradually add flour to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended after each addition. Divide dough in half. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill about half an hour.

Working with 1 portion of dough at a time, divide each portion into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a 2-inch log; curve ends of each log to form a crescent. Place crescents 2 inches apart on a parchment lined pan.

Mix the crushed peppermint candy with about 1 cup of powdered sugar in a small bowl and set aside.

Bake at 325°F for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool briefly on baking sheets, then while the cookies are still arm, roll in the bowl of the powdered sugar and peppermint, then cool on wire racks.

If you'd like to peppermint up your Christmas, here is the .pdf.

Cookie Week at Cafe 305: Dad's Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-12-09T07:26:00.000-05:00

These are my second-most requested cookie from the office. My dad's Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies.

We actually had a discussion about these the other day. He thought they had an egg in them. I told him the recipe he gave me didn't. (He hasn't made them in a while.) I prefer them without it, personally. Without the egg, they're crumblier - more like a pecan sandy/shortbread type cookie instead of a standard chocolate chip thing.

Dad's Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup toffee chips
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans

1. Mix butter and sugar together. Add salt, baking soda, and vanilla. Add

all chips and pecans. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10 - 12 minutes.

If you'd like to try these with or without an egg, here's the .pdf.

Cookie Week at Cafe 305: Potato Chip Cookies

2011-12-08T07:14:00.000-05:00

This is a cookie that always gets rave reviews. Karen, my Cookie Distributor this year (holla!), loves these. And told me that once again, they were a huge hit with everyone at the office.

Don't be all fooled by the title into thinking they're some weird trash food. They're crisp and crumbly, like a shortbread. Not too sweet, not too salty (but salty enough for me), and the bonus is you get part of a bag of Lays potato chips left over that you just have to eat, because why waste perfectly good food? Truly, having the bag of chips left in this house is much more dangerous for me than the cookies. Although crushing them up in the food processor kind of drives home how greasy they really are. I really should toss the rest of that bag...

But the cookies are NOT greasy. They are wonderful. I've been making them since they were published in Fine Cooking in 2004. My mother-in-law also loves them and has been baking them for her parties almost as long. (She has the same problem with a bag of leftover chips that I do.)

8 oz. unsalted butter, (1 cup) softened at room temperature; more for shaping
1/2 cup. granulated sugar, more for shaping
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
8 oz. all-purpose flour, (scant 2 cups)
2 oz. finely chopped pecans, (1/2 cup)
1/2 cup finely crushed potato chips

Position oven racks in the middle and top of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment.

With a stand mixer (use the paddle attachment) or a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed in a large bowl until creamy and well blended, about 4 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla and beat again until blended. Add the flour, pecans, and potato chips and mix on low speed until just blended.

Shape heaping teaspoons of dough into 1-inch balls. Arrange the balls about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Put some sugar in a shallow bowl. Lightly grease the bottom of a glass or measuring cup with soft butter. Dip the glass into the sugar and press the glass down on a dough ball until it's about 1/4 inch thick. Repeat dipping and pressing with the remaining balls.

Bake until the cookies look dry on top and the edges are light golden, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating and swapping the positions of the sheets for even baking. Let the cookies cool on the sheets on racks for 5 minutes before transferring them to racks to cool completely.

If you would like to have an excuse to buy a large bag of potato chips and have most of the bag leftover, here is the .pdf.

Cookie Week at Cafe 305: White Chocolate Brownies

2011-12-07T07:55:00.000-05:00

I've blogged these before, and according to my statistics, it's the most searched dish on here. I suspect some people are disappointed when they find it, because it's not a chocolate brownie with white chocolate chunks. These are, in fact, white chocolate squares. But I love them. They're dense and chewy with just the right amount of sweet and a lovely vanilla flavor.

I've been making these for a hundred years, and my tattered copy of Rosie’s Bakery All-Butter Fresh Cream Sugar-Packed No-Holds-Barred Baking Book by Judy Rosenberg opens right up to their page. Not that I really need to refer to the recipe anymore.

They couldn't be much simpler. Sugar, flour, butter (of course), white chocolate, eggs and salt. Throw them in a brownie pan and you're good to go. I doubled this recipe for Cookie Week and baked them in a sheet cake pan.

8 Tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter
4 oz. good quality white chocolate (such as Lindt)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
½ tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 325° F. Lightly grease an 11 x 7 inch baking pan (I actually use a square brownie pan) with butter or vegetable oil.

Melt the butter in the top of a double boiler placed over simmering water. When the butter has melted, add the white chocolate and melt.

Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the eggs and salt in a medium mixing bowl until frothy, about 20 seconds. Gradually add the sugar and continue beating until the eggs are thick and pale, about 1 ½ minutes. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Add the white chocolate and butter mixture and the vanilla and mix on medium-low speed until blended, about 5 seconds. Scrape the bowl.

Mix in the flour on low speed until blended, scraping the bowl with the rubber spatula once during blending. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Allow the brownies to cool on a rack for one hour before cutting. (Sure, whatever. These bad boys never make it a full hour before someone's had a nibble.)

Here is the .pdf, if you'd like to see if you can let them cool an hour before eating them.

Cookie Week at Cafe 305: Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies

2011-12-06T05:54:00.000-05:00

First things first - Dad, you need to make these for Mom. She'll love them.

Now I have to send Dad a link to the blog, then call him to remind him to check his email. (Hey, Dad!) I think I'll wait a little while, though. It's 5:30 AM here, 4:30 AM there. I doubt he and Mom would appreciate that. No matter how good these cookies are.

Mom will love these. They're ginger-snappy.

And they are wonderful. Crisp and spicy, after they've cooled, soft and sugary while they're still warm - they make the whole house smell like Christmas. They are from Dorie Greenspan's "Baking: From My Home to Yours", which would make an excellent gift for the serious baker on your list. I love my copy and it is well-used.

Ingredients:

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
pinch (small or not so small) of cracked or coarsely ground black pepper (I went on the not so small side, because I like these with a little heat)
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses (not blackstrap, says the recipe, although last year I used blackstrap and they were still delicious. They were much darker, of course.)
1 large egg
about 1/2 cup sugar, for rolling

The recipe looks fussier than it really is. You mix the dry ingredients together, cream the butter and sugar and molasses, then blend the lot together. It makes a silky, soft dough that you divide in half, envelope in plastic wrap, and stick in the fridge for an hour. Or overnight, in my case.

Take the dough out of the fridge one batch at a time. Shape it into balls with your hands, then roll each ball in a little bowl of sugar to coat it, and place on a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet. The dough is quite easy to work. Bake them at 350F for about 12 - 14 minutes, and they come out like this.

Aren't they gorgeous?

They're perfect with a cup of tea. Or a glass of milk. Or straight off the baking sheet with nothing.

If you'd like your dad to make these for your mom, or if you'd like to bake them for your co-workers and save a stash for yourself, here's the .pdf.

Cookie Week at Cafe 305

2011-12-05T06:43:00.001-05:00

It's time to try to get into the Christmas spirit. I'm not quite there yet. My house is still torn limb from limb from the painting.

Oh, have I not mentioned the painting? Here at 305, we've undertaken yet another project. And this will be the last one for a while. Our little 1940 house hasn't had its trim and ceilings painted in lord knows how long. It needed to be done when we moved in here 12 years ago, and it's just gotten worse. Oh, we've painted the walls - a couple of times. But neither of us wanted to tackle the trim and repair ceilings. So we've had painters in to do just those bits for the past few days. Problem is, everything had to come off the walls and shelves, drapes had to come down, and furniture had to be moved to do it.

Of course, Dinky had to "help" by blotting up some excess paint in a doorway.

Thanks, man. Now I have to give him a bath on top of everything else. Or maybe I'll just let it wear off. At the rate he sheds, it will all be gone in a few days anyway.

All this is to say that it's been a little difficult for me to get into the Christmas spirit. No way is a tree going up in the middle of all this chaos. We're still not even put back together, much less decorated. At the rate we're going, we might find it's too late to bother. Oh, well.

But this past weekend was my designated Cookie Baking Weekend, and if there's anything that will kick-start my holiday season, that's it. I started working for my current contract client as an employee right out of college in 1989. (That's right, kids, I'm THAT old!) Within a couple of years, I was baking up a storm and bringing it in to the office, especially at Christmas. Then when I moved to NC in 1996, I went from employee to contractor, and I've been shipping a big whopping load of Christmas cookies to my co-workers every year. Haven't missed a year yet, and I wasn't about to start this year.

So I armed myself with this, and began my weekend of sugar and butter debauchery.

This, by the way, is an excellent gift idea for the baker on your list. More than half my recipes came from here. You can order it from www.finecooking.com.

So get out your elastic waistbands and loosen your seatbelts, people. This week I'll be bringing you a cookie a day. Maybe you can find your own holiday inspiration in here, somewhere. And hopefully, by the time we wind up the week, 305 will be restored to its former glory, plus fresh clean trim and ceilings, and we can contemplate putting up a tree.

Pork Chops with Creamy Napa Cabbage

2011-11-30T08:00:00.000-05:00

For once, this one is all about a vegetable. Sure, there's pork involved, but all you have to do is grill a pork chop the way you like it. The part I like best about this dinner is the cabbage.

Napa cabbage is easy to find around here this time of year. Our new market around the corner has gorgeous heads of it that are grown locally.

The flavor of Napa cabbage isn't strong or bitter, so this isn't a very heavy-handed treatment.

Slice a small yellow onion and slice the cabbage crosswise thinly. You'll want to use mostly the leaves for this. When you get down to the tougher stem area, cut that out and discard it. You should wind up with about 6 cups of cabbage. It looks like a lot, but it cooks down.

Put a large pan over medium-high heat. Add about a tablespoon of olive oil and the onion. Sweat the onion about four minutes, until it's limp. Then add the cabbage. Sprinkle it with a nice generous pinch of kosher salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Toss it around in the pan. After another four minutes or so, it will get a nice, pretty bright green, and soft.

Now add about a quarter cup of cream and a couple of tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese. Stir it together and cook just long enough for the cream to thicken a little - about two more minutes.

See? Not tons of cream. The cabbage isn't just swimming in it. Just enough to coat it.

Now just serve it with a grilled pork chop and you're ready to go!

If you'd like to give the cabbage a try with your next pork chop, here's the .pdf.

Sage Roasted Chicken Legs with Acorn Squash and Roasted Cauliflower

2011-11-28T08:00:00.002-05:00

This one couldn't be simpler. It's why I love roasting. Prep the food, put it in the oven and/or on the grill, and walk away for 40 minutes. Cleanup isn't an atrocity, either. And I needed that after Post Thanksgiving Stress Disorder we suffered with this year's dinner. Good lord. No more potlucks.

No recipes needed for this. Nab a couple of chicken leg quarters, salt and pepper them, and stick about a half tablespoon of butter under the skin. If you have fresh sage leaves, shove two under the skin of each leg quarter with the butter. If you don't, you can use dried or rubbed sage - just go easy - maybe a scant half teaspoon per leg. I had rubbed sage and just sprinkled some right on the chicken.

I used my ubiquitous foil-lined, parchment-topped roasting pan and put it on a gas grill at 400F for about 35 minutes.

For the squash, just split it in two and scoop out the innards,

drizzle with a little olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and brush with maple syrup. I put those in the oven at 400 for 40 minutes. (Cook until you can pierce the flesh easily with a fork.)

The cauliflower was even easier. Just break it up, toss with olive oil and salt and pepper and a little parmesan cheese, and roast it at 400 for the same amount of time (about 40 minutes).

Now while everything is cooking, wash your cutting board and knives and any doodads you messed up - that will take all of five minutes. Then go sit down and have a nice glass of wine and relax.

Thirty minutes later, hey presto, dinner is ready.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-25T16:31:00.000-05:00

Hard to believe it's been a year since our last Thanksgiving. Tempus fugit, y'all. This year was a little more low-key, with the absence of the Cady contingency, but Lora was a champ and posted a picture of herself on Facebook with a pack of McCormick's gravy mix and a can of cranberry sauce. Thanks, Lora! After our dinner, I wish I'd followed your example.

I honestly have to say that the food this year was a disappointment. I'm not a huge fan of turkey, and I totally messed up Grandmother's Dressing. I know! She would have rolled her eyes at me. I used her tablecloth and napkins, to try to make up for it.

She embroidered them herself. I can't even hem a pair of pants.

Then there was the miscommunication between my mother-in-law and me about who was making the cranberry sauce. We both made it and somehow neither batch even managed to make it to the table. Anybody want some cranberry sauce? We got plenty!

The weather was lovely and clear and a little crisp in the evening, so we were able to have a fire and visit before dinner.

Too soon, it was time to move inside and get things going in the kitchen. The off-duty cooks had a game of Spades and some snacks while they waited for KP call. My nephew tried a little cheating when he couldn't quite get the rules, but his grandmother is noted for her card smackdown, so that didn't get too far.

Do not mess with my mother-in-law when you're playing cards, people. She'll cut you.

The only thing I made all night that was worth the powder it'd take to blow it up was the smoked trout dip.

Delicious. Worth tight jeans the next day.

Once things started moving faster in the kitchen, Benjamin kindly took over camera duty for me. Kid's got a good eye, actually. Some of his shots turned out way better than mine.

It was pleasant enough to eat outside with the heater.

Finally, it was time to dig in, and dig in, we did.

Well, except for one of us. He didn't dig in. He just sulked.

We did have a lovely time, it's just that my contribution to dinner wasn't up to my standard. But it's about spending time with loved ones, and there was gracious plenty of that.

Hope your Thanksgivings were all wonderful and you are refreshed and ready to strap yourselves in for the rest of the holiday season.

If you think you'd like to give the smoked trout dip a go, here is the .pdf.

Grilled Chicken with Mustard Maple Sauce

2011-11-09T08:02:00.000-05:00

This is a recipe I have used often. The sauce pairs very well with chicken or pork (think tenderloin). It's better if you marinate the meat, but half the time I don't, and it's still fine.

For the sauce/marinade, mix together 4 teaspoons dried mustard, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar, 1 cup of maple syrup, 6 Tablespoons of dijon mustard and 1/4 cup of soy sauce. If you can marinate the meat overnight in the refrigerator, great. If not, try an hour at room temperature.

For these, I used split chicken breasts, removed them from the marinade and gave them a quick sprinkle of kosher salt and dotted them with butter.

I like butter.

Those went on a 400F gas grill, and I boiled the remaining marinade down to about half as much.

Take the chicken off the grill, slice, and serve with the reduced sauce.

If you'd like to marinate some chicken in mustard and maple in your own kitchen, here's the .pdf.

Grilled Steelhead Trout with Sweet Potato Hash

2011-11-07T08:00:00.001-05:00

Costco sometimes carries these absolutely enormous and gorgeous steelhead trout filets. Don't let it fool you. It is not salmon, even though it looks like it. I am not a huge fan of most fish, but I love this stuff. Added bonus - it's simple and fast to cook.

I like to grill it very simply. A sprinkling of kosher salt and pepper, a little brown sugar and a few dots of butter is all it needs, as far as I'm concerned. It's got a little heavier flavor than most trout, but it's still pretty delicate.

I cooked the trout on the gas grill at about 400 for 7 - 10 minutes.

I made a sweet potato hash to go along with the trout. I diced a russet and a peeled sweet potato and gave them a quick 1 - 2 minute boil in salted water so they would be partially cooked. Then I chopped an onion, a zucchini, and a red bell pepper, and cooked it in a large pan with a little olive oil and some salt and pepper until the potatoes were nice and crispy. It took about 10 minutes. Maybe 12. I had a glass of wine and might have lost track of a couple of minutes here or there.

I do know that dinner was on the table in no more than about 40 minutes, including prep and some down time for my glass of wine. And that's a beautiful thing.

If you'd like to hash a trout in your own kitchen, here's the .pdf.

The Northwood: Take 2

2011-10-27T17:17:00.001-04:00

I've blogged this drink before, but it's so good, and now I actually have coupe glasses, AND it's fall again, AND I have a better camera, so I thought I'd share it one more time.

This is the Northwood. It's a drink I found in Imbibe magazine years ago. This is distilled fall in a glass. It uses apple cider, maple syrup, brandy, gold rum, and a little bit of lemon juice. It's sweet, so a little goes a long way.

If I were a professional, I would have taken the price sticker off the apple cider.

Once you have assembled your ingredients, put 3 Tbs. gold rum, 2 Tbs. brandy, 1 1/2 Tbs. apple cider, and 1 tsp. of maple syrup in a shaker. If you are exceptionally observant, you'll notice in this picture I have a shot glass, which was totally unnecessary. I forgot this used measuring spoon amounts until I checked my notes. We'll call it a prop.

I really should use hand lotion more often.

Flip the lid upside down over the shaker to use as a strainer. This calls for 3/4 tsp. of lemon juice, but I just used half a lemon. That's going to be more like a tablespoon, but I need just a little less sweet, personally. You can adjust to your own preference.

Add ice and shake. Strain into a coupe (or martini) glass.

Hold onto the lid. Right after this photo was taken, mine came off and it was a godawful mess. I saved my drink, though!

You can garnish with an apple slice if you're all fancy. I'm not all fancy. I'm pretty plain jane. And lazy. There's also that.

If you'd like to shake up some fall and put it in a cocktail glass, here's the .pdf.

The Origin of Pootie: An explanation

2011-10-21T15:27:00.000-04:00

There seems to be some weird misnomer out there about my husband's nickname. When we were first married, we both loved Calvin and Hobbes. THIS is the origin of Pootie:

Granted, I spelled it wrong, but I've been calling him Pootie for over 20 years now. It just stuck. And since he hates his real name anyway (Phillip), he adopted it and refers to himself as Pootie most of the time.

And that's the whole story behind "Pootie". Who also has green eyes and a nice laugh.

But who most assuredly does NOT call me "Bitsy" anything.

Fall is coming! Pork Chops with Mustard and Bread Crumbs

2011-10-12T07:58:00.000-04:00

We got lucky and had a few days of unseasonably cool weather here last week. My extensive sources (friends on Facebook who live up North) tell me that real fall has arrived for good elsewhere. But not here. We're already warming back up. Real fall won't hit us until November and doesn't really get going until December, which is why I've campaigned for years to move Christmas to January. That, and I could always use another month to get ready. At any rate, when the night temperatures drop into the 50s, it's cause to celebrate and break out the warm food fare and the fire pit. And trade in my flip-flops for my Chucks.

I enjoyed a glass of wine by the fire, then headed to the kitchen to work on dinner. Pork chops with a mustard and bread-crumb crust, sauteed cabbage, and roasted sweet and white potatoes with nutmeg.

For the potatoes, I cut peeled sweet potatoes and unpeeled russet potatoes into large chunks, tossed them with some olive oil, salt and pepper and nutmeg, and put them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and put them in the oven at 400F.

Then I went outside to check on Pootie and Dinky and how things were going outside.

Fine, obviously.

After the potatoes had cooked about 25 minutes, I started the pork chops. I used boneless loin chops, but you can use any cut you like - just adjust the cooking time according to the size and thickness. You can brine them if you're into that, because I didn't decide we were even having them until about an hour and a half before we ate.

Heat a medium oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat. Salt and pepper the chops, then dredge in flour and shake off the excess. Add 1 Tbs. of butter and 1 Tbs. of olive oil to the pan. When the butter is foamy, add the chops.

Brown the chops on each side, then place about a Tablespoon of Dijon mustard on top of each pork chop.

Make a mixture of bread crumbs - I used whole wheat and added about a teaspoon of caraway seeds. You could use rye bread, or you could mix together any whole grain or whole wheat with sage or whatever floats your boat. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs on the pork chops and then dot the breadcrumbs with just a little butter. Put the whole shebang, pan and all, in the oven at 400 and bake until the breadcrumbs are brown and the chops are done in the center. (About 145 degrees F. Get an instant-read thermometer. Seriously. It's not a superfluous kitchen gadget, I promise. I use mine all the time.)

I served mine with some braised red cabbage and the roasted potatoes. Outside is best. Unless you're way up North and it's already snowed or something.

If you would like to smear some dijon and bake some bread crumbs on a pork chop, here's the .pdf.

Letting Others Cook for Me: Chocolate Mint Thins from Stephanie

2011-10-10T08:05:00.000-04:00

The kitchen is slowly cranking again here at 305. I have to say, recovering from surgery took a hell of a lot longer than I thought it was going to. Or wanted it to. Thankfully, we had some friends and family feeding us for the first week I was home. After that, I've been able to get in the kitchen and cook, but none of it has been particularly blog-worthy. Best I can say for it is that it was sustenance.

We've known Stephanie for close to ten years now - before the boys were even a thought. She was a good neighbor and a great friend. And now she has two adorable boys and her hands full. But she still managed to cook and care for us when we needed it.

The boys are older now. Steph isn't. That's how it works, people.

While I was in the hospital, the boys made me a sign and Steph posted it on Facebook for me. Isn't it awesome?

Then once I was home, they brought an excellent dinner of stuffed peppers and some wonderful mashed potatoes. Those kids know their way around a kitchen, now! But the cookies sent me into orbit. I LOVED them. I took one bite and marched straight into the office and shot Stephanie an email and begged for the recipe.

Luckily for all of us, she agreed to share. This one is going straight into my annual holiday baking spree. They are delicious minty chocolate wafers. I love them. Here's the .pdf of the recipe so you can give it a whirl.

Having friends and family give the gift of lovingly made food is such a wonderful boost to body and spirit. I highly recommend doing it for others, but also allowing others the joy of doing it for you. Thanks for dinner Steph, and thanks very much for the cookies!

A Breastless Burden with Braces: A Beauty Blog

2011-09-17T12:18:00.002-04:00

I know I said I wouldn't blog about it, and I haven't much, but I feel the need to address my reality here. It's been an eventful month.

The morning of August 10, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Conicidentally, I had an orthodontist appointment the same day. I have been wearing Invisalign for the past year so I could stop looking like a gap-toothed hillbilly. (I will still act like one - there's no hope for that.) Hours after I'd been told I had breast cancer, my orthodontist said "Well, I know you're about done with the liners, but I don't like the way these incisors are refusing to turn in. Want to go ahead and just put some wires on these today?"

Because I know how to party, I said "Sure. Why not?" My orthodontist apparently doesn't speak Sarcasm, so an hour later, I walked out with two separate brackets and metal wires across a few of my front teeth. Yay, me.

I swear this is what they look like.

Then since I wasn't ugly enough, on Monday September 12, I went to the hospital and had my breasts removed. Except officially it's called a bilateral mastectomy and they also began the reconstructive surgery. When it was all over, I was lying in the hospital, battered, bandaged and unable to do much of anything for myself. I looked at Pootie and said "Hello. This is your ugly wife. I am breastless. I have braces. And I am a complete burden." And he laughed and laughed and said "Breastless with Braces. You have to write a Beauty Blog about that." So here we are. And here I am. Breastless. With braces. Still pretty much a burden, even though I'm home.

One "beauty" thing is that my pathology results from the remaining tissue came back negative, so there was no more cancer and my surgeon considers me 100% cured with surgery. No need for any further procedure. That's solidly in the "plus" column. In the "minus" column is what I still have left to go through. I've discovered that there is a pretty common misconception about the reconstruction part of this surgical procedure, which I held myself until I got into all this. If you're curious, google it, because I'm not going to gross you out here. Suffice it to say that the reconstruction is not simply slipping an implant in and walking out the door with a pair of Hollywood Beauties. It's lengthy, it's painful, it's involved, and the end result won't be breasts. It will be a close approximation of something that passes for breasts. Sort of. From far away. With lots of clothes covering them. My nude modeling days are definitely over. I suppose now I'll have to rely on my brains to make a living.

Another "beauty" thing is the love and support I've gotten from friends and family. Man, I'm lucky. My wonderful Pootie, besides being my caregiver, my medical liason, my visitation coordinator, my - well, pretty much my everything, stepped way above and beyond and bought me a Star Projector for my hospital stay. It projects moving stars and clouds up onto the ceiling. He also downloaded about four hours of "space music" - just quiet, soothing stuff - and put it on my Nano and set the docking speakers up in the hospital room. So while I was lying awake at night, this is what I got to look at.

It was hit with the night staff at the hospital.

It made the medication a lot more interesting.

Before I went in for surgery, Happy Jenn brought us chili (David made it - it was ossum, DT! Sorry! We didn't wait for the surgery to eat it!) and brought me a bunch of light reading. I now have several copies of People Magazine. I looked at them and realized I'm sorely lacking in the popular culture knowledge department, because I don't have a clue who any of those folks are. Their lives are WAY more interesting than mine, though, so you may want to ditch this blog and go pick up the latest copy.

Meg came to visit while I was in the hospital, and brought wine (which no, I am not drinking yet) and some nice other little gifts. I was pretty doped up while she was there, but I do remember that she came. I think that was her, anyway. And our wonderful neighbor Darlene came and visited, although I slept through that. I was pretty useless as company. Hell, as introverted as I am, being even tolerable company is difficult for me on a GOOD day. And the three days I was at New Hanover were definitely not three of my better days. I feel vaguely like I should apologize, but I don't remember what for.

When we got home on Wednesday, Our other wonderful neighbors Morgan and Jesse brought over some blueberry muffins and chicken noodle soup. Talk about perfect. After almost no food for three days and cartloads of medication, my stomach was a little on the delicate side, and chicken noodle soup was just what the doctor ordered. I mean this literally, since Morgan is a physician. I'm pretty sure that means her soup had Magical Doctor Powers.

It certainly made me feel much better.

Darlene brought some groceries, some much-needed vegetables as soup and ratatouille, and help with bandages. Shannon and her girls stopped by to say hello and brought some seriously tasty lasagna cups and fresh greens for a salad. Melissa and Liza and Levi brought a tamale pie and a game that Pootie and I are planning to break into sometime today. My mother-in-law has alternated bandage duty with Darlene, and is roasting us a chicken today or tomorrow. Stephanie is on dinner duty tonight. Carol and David brought food last night, and that's way over the top considering the fact that David has spent the last year dealing with his own cancer. (He's doing better now.)

And flowers. Man, did I get some flowers.

They've brightened my mood considerably. I'm kind of stuck at the house for a while, so having them in vases around the house gives me quite a lift.

I'm going to owe a lot of people big when this is all over with in a few weeks. It's the kind of debt I'm very happy to repay. Thanks to everyone for the kind thoughts, well wishes, food, flowers and assistance. I feel very loved and cared for and am grateful for the help in all its varying forms.

I'm feeling a little more like myself every day. And that's a beautiful thing, too. But it will be a while before I'll be looking in the mirror.

Here's Dr. Morgan's Magical Chicken Noodle Soup, if you know someone who needs a little post-surgical comfort. Or maybe just has a cold.

Labor Day Dinner: BBQ Chicken, Squash Gratin and Grilled Okra

2011-09-08T15:10:00.000-04:00

For Labor Day I think you're supposed to have something like this, or burgers, or hot dogs - there's a rule somewhere. Like wearing white. But who pays attention to that? I mean, summer is FAR from over down here. Unfortunately.

But for this year's Labor Day, we invited Jack and Beth over for a little barbecue and cards. (We didn't eat the cards.)

I made a squash gratin, grilled some okra (you heard me) and a derivation of my grandmother's barbecued chicken.

Marc taught me to make the squash gratin a while back in one of his cooking classes at Marc's on Market. It's just alternating layers of yellow squash, zucchini, sliced onion, sliced tomato, a drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkling of salt and pepper and some panko crumbs and parmesan cheese over the top.

For the chicken, make a dry rub of 2 Tbs. brown sugar, 2 tsp. dry mustard, 2 tsp. chili powder, 2 tsp. paprika, 1 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. of black pepper and a dash of cayenne pepper. Sprinkle that over the pieces of a cut up whole chicken.

Now you can put this chicken directly on the grill, but I like to put it on a foil lined roasting pan topped with a piece of parchment. I'm lazy and I hate cleaning the grill. And there's something about that blackened, charred stuff being a carcinogen, and I sure don't need any more of that in my life right now. Put the chicken on about a 400F degree grill (medium high heat). And put the squash in the oven at 375F at the same time. Both are going to need to cook about 40 minutes.

Now you can cook the okra at the same time as the chicken if you've got room on the grill, but it only needs about five minutes. This is a close approximation of the recipe in last month's Fine Cooking. I tossed whole okra in olive oil and salt and pepper and put it on a perforated pizza pan and just put that on a hot grill (400F) for about 10 minutes. I made a dipping sauce out of sauteed shallots, a quarter cup of mayo, 2 Tbs. of tomato paste, a teaspoon of paprika, and a pinch of salt.

Pull everything off the grill, and take the squash out of the oven.

We all helped ourselves to dinner.

Hey, Beth!!

After dinner, I served ice cream with Abby Dodge's Nutella Brownie Bites.

And we settled in to a pretty good game of Hearts. Jack tried to smear us.

Check that cocky grin.

Pootie was losing big, but managed to pull out a tie with Jack in the end. That's what happens when everyone teams up against you. Sorry, Jack-man.

If you'd like to play a round of Labor Day Dinner in your own kitchen, here are the .pdfs.

Grandmother's BBQ Chicken, revisited

Squash Gratin

Grilled Okra with Tomato-Paprika Dipping Sauce

Abby Dodge's Nutella Brownie Bites

Hurricane Shrimp

2011-09-02T11:07:00.000-04:00

I suppose everyone remembers Irene, the much-overhyped hurricane of last week. Here's what we had for dinner the night she swatted at us. Yes. That's how far behind I am.

But first, this is what Irene looked like.

Jim Cantore was nowhere to be seen.

And here was the "devestation".

The horror.

Needless to say, we got off light.

Meanwhile, back in the house, where we still had lights and air conditioning and all the creature comforts, this is what I cooked. We weren't exactly roughing it, but I didn't have a whole lot of time, since we'd spent a good portion of the afternoon putting our outdoor furniture in the shed and prepping the yard for heavy wind and rain.

I diced a small onion and some pancetta and sweated that in some olive oil, then added a can of Great Northern beans. Then I chopped a bunch of kale and put that in to simmer with the beans.

Once the kale was cooked, I added some artichoke heart quarters, a diced tomato, and some black olives.

I let that simmer and got the shrimp ready. I'd gotten them fresh from Carolina Farmin', our new grocery around the corner. MAN, that's going to be convenient. We even bought a little wheelie cart so we can walk and buy our groceries. Just like the big city people do! Except without the noise and all the people.

Anyway, I put a pan over medium-high heat and let it get hot, then drizzled in about a tablespoon of olive oil, then tossed in three minced garlic cloves and a pound of peeled and deveined shrimp. You have to devein those guys - there's nothing worse than chomping down on a bunch of sandy grit. A generous pinch of kosher salt and a pinch of red pepper flakes is all they needed, along with a little tossing around.

Then I served the beans, topped them with the shrimp, and added a sprinkling of fresh-grated parmesan cheese. Because there's not much parmesan cheese can't improve.

Serve with unnecessary candlelight. (We didn't lose power until 4:20 AM.)

It got the Pootie Seal of Approval.

He was more enthusiastic than it looks.

Here's the .pdf, if you want to have your own hurricane. (I'd recommend skipping the weather part.)

Peanut Butter Cookies

2011-08-20T12:13:00.001-04:00

It's been kind of a rough couple of weeks, I'll admit. So I found myself in need of a little comfort.

When I was a kid, my dad used to make peanut butter cookies, and let me "help". I got to do the mashing bit with the fork. The smell of peanut butter always reminds me of baking these back in the day. Well, that, and Dad smearing it in my hair to remove chewing gum. Yeah, I've always been kind of a mess.

No, I can't sing.

I wanted these cookies badly enough to get in the car and go get peanut butter when I realized we only had about a tablespoon in the house. That's all we needed, though. These guys are pretty low-ingredient, and easy to make. The end result is a salty, crunchy, crumbly cookie. You can make them crisper by cooking them a little longer. If you want them on the softer side, take them out before they get darker brown.

Let me interject here that I LOVE this mixer paddle for baking cookies and cakes.

I ordered it from Amazon and it works VERY well. I highly recommend one if you do a lot of baking. Saves having to do that annoying stop and scrape business.

Cream 2 sticks of softened butter, 1 cup of peanut butter and 2/3 cup each of dark brown sugar and white sugar.

Most recipes will tell you not to use that natural peanut butter for these cookies, but it's all I had. The kind we get at Costco isn't as grainy as some of the other brands, like Smuckers. I didn't find that it compromised the texture, and I'm picky about my peanut butter cookies.

Add 1/2 tsp. of baking soda, 1/2 tsp. of salt, and 1/2 tsp. of vanilla and mix in. Then add 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour. You're going to want to add it in stages at a low speed. Just trust me on that one. I have done the research for you.

When the dough comes together, it will be a little stiff. Roll it into 1 inch balls and put them on a parchment-lined baking sheet a couple of inches apart.

You'll need a glass of water and a fork next.

Dip the fork in the water and mash the cookies down with a cross-hatch pattern. The water keeps the fork from sticking to the dough. You'll need to dip between each cookie, probably.

Bake at 350F for about 12 - 15 minutes, depending on how crunchy you want them. Cool them on a rack or on the counter.

I was all about some nostalgia with these. We've had that cookie jar since we got married. Pootie pilfered it from his parents (alliteration!). It's been around since he and his sister were babies.

Don't judge. It was the 70s, people.

Normally, I'd say serve these with milk, but we were out. I know. You'd think while I was in the grocery getting peanut butter, I'd have remembered that. I told you I was a mess. But they're almost as good with a little coffee.

If you want to moosh a few yourself, here's the .pdf.

Andie's Big Adventure, Interrupted

2011-08-15T08:00:00.003-04:00

We got everything set up and arranged, and set our departure date for Newfoundland for August 27. Our "winter" clothes were sorted and ready to ship. Then, last Wednesday, August 10, our 21st wedding anniversary, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Well, shit.

I'm extraordinarily lucky in that it was caught early, it's non-invasive, and it's completely curable with surgery. But since I have a strong family history of breast cancer - my grandmother (mom's mother)

my Aunt Barbara (mom's sister)

and my own mother -

- and since I'm "only" 44, my surgeon and I decided it was safe to assume that my breasts are trying to kill me. Probably. I'll be having the bilateral mastectomy with the reconstructive surgery, please, waiter. Looks like around the end of August or beginning of September, depending on the schedules of the two surgeons involved.

I'll be perfectly fine, and won't have to ever have another mammogram. (Bonus!)

So this fall, we will be headed to New Hanover Regional Medical Center instead of Newfoundland. Canada will have to wait until next September. Poor Pootie has already got the wheels in motion to defer a year. At least we've already done the legwork, which means less time next year to line up hotels, boats and rental property.

I'll be right here cooking at Cafe 305, with a brief hiatus for surgery and recovery. This will NOT be turning into a cancer blog. No worries. This is the last you'll hear of it here. Tune back in for recipes and revelry.

And the occasional picture of Bigfoot.

Carry on, folks. I'll be back with you soon.

Andie's Big Adventure: Planning the Road Trip

2011-07-29T15:00:00.001-04:00

We are down to the one month mark. Minus a couple of days, even. I do not have butterflies in my stomach, I have bats. But we have made even more planning progress, which helps. We still don't have the ferry situation completely resolved, but it's close enough that we thought it best to go ahead and plan the road trip and make reservations for the stops along the way. Captain Pete has graciously made arrangements for Dinky to stay in his crate on a lower deck where we can visit him a few times. The only hitch right now is that I'm not 100 per cent sure where he'll be able to powder his nose, as it were. But we're assuming that Captain Pete knows that he won't be able to hold it for 15 hours, and there will be somewhere for him to go.

So yesterday, Pootie pulled up Google maps and got to work. The first call didn't go all that well. Remember, we've got a hundred and thirty pounds of dog in tow.

What did the vet mean when he said I was "phat"?

Hotels sometimes think they don't want giant dogs eating Doritos in the bed and watching the Weather Channel. I have no idea why. But it makes sense to mention the size of the animal when you're making reservations. Unfortunately, Pootie hadn't quite got the hang of it when he started.

Pootie (on the phone with Hampton Inn's 800 reservation number): Yes, I need to make a reservation. This Hampton indicates it takes pets and we'll be traveling with our Bernese Mountain Dog.
Phone guy: whaa hwaa whaa whaa whwaa whaaa wha
Pootie: Uh... about a hundred and thirty pounds...?
Phone guy: wha whaaa wha waa wha whaa whwaa whaaa
Pootie: Oh. OK. (hangs up) They won't take dogs that big.
Me: Did you call the hotel itself?
Pootie: Yeah... but they said they were busy, so they'd call me back or I could call the 800 number...
Me: Give me the local number for the hotel.
(dialing)
Me: Good morning. Could I speak to the manager please? Thanks... Hello? Yes, we're traveling with our Bernese Mountain Dog and would like to make a reservation. He's about 130 pounds, but he's older and pretty sedentary. I was wondering if you might be able to accomodate us?
Manager: Oh, sure. That would be fine. Would you like me to make the reservation for you? I'll just make a note on here for you.
Me: That would be great. Thanks.

And now I have passed along my wisdom to Pootie (and anyone else who needs it here). It doesn't always work, of course, but if you need to have an exception made, go straight to someone who can make it, and don't rely on the first schmoe who answers the phone. They aren't given the authority to make decisions and most of the time, they won't go out of their way to find someone who does.

The rest of the reservations went great. So we are stopping outside Baltimore, Maryland.

Then on to Mystic, Conneticut. (Which is just KILLING Pootie since we won't have time to actually see anything.)

Then to Camden, Maine, where we spent our honeymoon.

It was a LONG time ago. Yes, I know that dress doesn't fit. I was in borrowed clothes because the airline lost our luggage.

Then on to Moncton, New Brunswick (we'll be in Canada, by then, in case you haven't figured that out.)

Wow. That looks like a pretty big place.

Then to Sydney, Nova Scotia (not Australia - that's way too long a drive.) We catch the ferry there.

Dinky will be one one of those below decks. He's fussed that he didn't get his own cabin.

Then we take the very long ferry ride to Newfoundland and when we land, we drive an hour and a half to St. John's.

In case any of you are wondering about all the water, and I haven't already mentioned it, Pootie is going up there to start the PhD program in Maritime History. That ought to make a bit more sense of all the wet stuff.

So now we have several point Bs to go with our point A (here at home), and I feel better. Marginally.

Tomorrow we start mapping out the most important part of any road trip.

Where the Heck I've Been: Parents and Pecan-Crusted Skirt Steak

2011-07-22T15:56:00.000-04:00

I know. You thought I'd run away from home or had my power disconnected didn't you? Nope. You're not that lucky. I've just been busy.

My parents came for a visit last weekend. So before they arrived, of course, I had to clean, so they didn't see that normally we live in filth and squalor.

I had to give the dog a bath so he smelled good. (He wouldn't speak to me for a good while.)

You're dead to me.

Then they got here and we dragged them all over creation.

We took them downtown.

We took them to Airlie Gardens.

We took them to Thalian Hall.

We brought them home.

This is why Dinky got a bath. He does love a lap and a glass of vino.

In between we ate a lot of ice cream and had a nice visit. I fed them once. For their dinner here, I made Pecan-Crusted Skirt Steak. It's one of my slightly modified old standby dinners from Fine Cooking. Easy as all get-out, fast and tasty. And I didn't take pictures because I was distracted.

Turn a gas grill to high (or you can do this under the broiler, just watch it more closely or the top will burn).

Go back in the house and dump 3/4 cup of pecans, 2 Tbs. of cold butter, 2 tsp. of honey and 1 1/2 tsp of fresh rosemary into a food processor. Whirl it around until the pecans are finely chopped and the mixture is kind of pasty.

Put the skirt steak on a baking sheet with sides or a small roasting pan lined with foil and topped with parchment. Sprinkle the steak with kosher salt and pepper on both sides, and then spread the pecan mixture on the top side of the steak.

Put the steak on the grill and cook for about 4 - 5 minutes, or until the steak is browned but still a little pink in the middle. Set it aside to rest for 5 minutes, then cut it across the grain. If the crust falls off, just scoop it back on the meat. I like serving this with baked sweet potatoes and roasted asparagus.

If you would like to serve it to your parents, here's the .pdf.

Cafe 305 Field Trips: Federal Point Farms Hoop House

2011-07-07T11:24:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, I paid a visit to our friends Dave and Christin at Federal Point Farms. They've undertaken a very interesting project recently. They applied for a grant from RAFI - the Rural Advancement Foundation International. These funds in particular were available to reinvest in non-tobacco agriculture in North Carolina. Christin and Dave won the grant and built a warm-weather hoop house for crops. The idea was to build a large, open shaded and cooled area where they could extend the spring season. In case you haven't heard me mention it a few thousand times, it gets hotter than stink here in Coastal North Carolina. Our growing season is early, which sometimes sparks a little jealousy from our Northern neighbors (hey, Tony!) but long about mid-June, it's humid and beastly, and you can normally kiss nice lettuces and the more delicate herbs goodbye.

Enter the shaded hoop house. Check the soil temperature inside.

That's 81.8F (for you scads of international readers - about 27C)

Now check it just one step outside the hoop house.

105.8 F (41C). Perfectly horrible no matter what scale you're using.

So let's let Dave tell us about RAFI and the hoop house. (Christin was busy weeding and stuff.)

The setup is pretty cool. They have the shade screen over the top of the hoops, which provide gradient shade - you can order what gradient you want. Then they have the misters which lower the ambient temperature inside the shaded hoop area.

A hundred years ago, I visited Phoenix, Arizona, and they had these things downtown to help cool people off. You don't see them in the South for People Purposes much because lord knows we have gracious plenty moisture to go around. But it was noticeably cooler inside the wide open hoop house than it was outside. So I hung out in there for most of the visit. They also have overhead irrigation inside that comes on twice daily.

It's pretty efficient, water and power-wise. Dave explains how it works.

This allows them to plant things like arugula, baby lettuces, sorrel and chard much later in the year than is normal. And even the hotter weather stuff seems to like it better. Shall we compare?

Gorgeous, lush, in the cooler hoop house basil...

Sad, pitiful, wishes it was in the hoop house but it's out in the hot sun basil

Happy tomato plant...

Not so happy remnants of a tomato plant. Similar to what you might see on the surface of Mars, for example.

Charred Chard. I crack myself up.

It's the scorching hot soil temperatures and sun that causes this tiny leaved output and yellow shrivel up. Which is why down here, you don't usually see lettuces and arugula and herbs stuffing the Farmer's Market stalls past late June. It's just hotter than Hay-Bees down here. (Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I've called it that since I was old enough to talk. It's all mine.) But Dave and Christin have conquered the hay-bees heat and are going to have a nice crop of stuff that's normal to our spring, which for this year, they'll provide to local restaurants.

This year, they'll keep the hoop house open. Next fall, they plan to put plastic over the top and as a roll-up option on the sides so that they can trap heat and also do the traditional cool weather season extension. And with a year under their belts, they hope to be able to provide some of that extra produce for the Farmer's Market, as well. It's a great way to naturally extend both seasons.

Cold Cucumber Soup

2011-07-02T16:02:00.000-04:00

The last few times I've been to the Farmer's Market, Dave and Christin have had some gorgeous cucumbers, so I've laughed an unattractive, greedy laugh, scooped them up in my arms, and scurried off home. Where I put them on the counter, scratch my head and go "What the hell am I going to do with all these cukes?"

Fortunately, last week, Pootie requested some cold soups. "Weench", he said, (long story on the nickname, but there it is) "Weench, would you make some cold soups for us for lunch?" And being the generous, sweet wife I am, who also happened to be loaded up with a bunch of cucumbers, I said sure.

For chilled cucumber soup, chop half a red onion.

If you're one of the millions of crazy people out there who think that red onion is "sweet" and "tastes awesome raw", knock yourself out and use it without cooking it first. Just don't make me eat it, and please refrain from breathing on me for 24 hours. I sweat mine in a pan with just a little drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of kosher salt.

Peel the cucumbers and slice them lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds. I use a grapefruit spoon, because I'm clever that way.

Roughly chop what you have left without the seeds and peels. For this I did 2 cukes and wound up with about two cups.

Or, you know, a little more.

Dump the cucumber, onion, 3 tablespoons of fresh dill, 1 tablespoon of fresh mint, 1 1/2 cups of plain yogurt, 1/4 tablespoon of celery seed, a few grinds of black pepper, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and a dash of cayenne pepper into a blender. I have to confess that I used about a teaspoon of dried dill instead of fresh. It's too hot here now for fresh to do anything but gasp and wither. Kind of like me.

Puree the whole thing until it's nice and smooth. Chill it.

Serve it to your Pootie with a sprig of mint or dill.

If you want to clean the margarita residue out of your blender and give this a try, here's the .pdf.

Andie's Big Adventure: Planning, Planning and More Planning

2011-06-23T16:01:00.000-04:00

Recently we were at the beach with our friends the Tuckers, and Jenn was asking what was going on with the temporary relocation (I prefer that to the term "move", which implies a permenant thing). I was retelling a few items, including the ferry trip, the house we rented, etc. To which Jenn replied, "Oh my god. You guys are so... ORGANIZED. You've gotten all that taken care of already? You're months out! We'd probably be packing up the car to leave and go "oh, maybe we should look into a place to rent for while we're up there." Because we just totally do not have it together to that degree."

And I said "Maybe. But the big difference is that you'd be fine with going with the flow. We would most assuredly NOT be OK with that. We would freak. The term "roll with it" does not apply at 305."

Let me refresh your memory as to who we are dealing with, here.

Show some love to Natalie Dee for this design, y'all.

So it's appropriate that in preparation for this excursion, 305 has been transformed and looks more like this these days:

That's right, people. We're going to execute this thing with the military precision of Operation Overlord. Or better. Because there's not much that will send me into having a come-apart faster than The Unknown.

Look. I know it's a shortcoming. I know that it's indicative of a far healthier psyche to be flexible. Adaptable. More relaxed. But at the ripe old age of 44, I'm beginning to finally accept the fact that I'm not that guy. Girl. Woman. Whatever. My parents will confirm that even as a little kid, I absolutely COULD NOT enjoy what I was doing unless I knew "what's going to happen next?". Once I had a plan mapped out in my tiny little neurotic brain, I was happy as a clam. And I'm still very much that way. I need to know what. I need to know when. I need to know where. I need to know how. And I need to know it all long before I get in the car and pull out of my driveway and point to the Great White North.

So here's what we've accomplished so far.

We have procured lodging.

We have gotten passports and filed for all the visa stuff we need.

Yes, Pootie had on pants. He'd been outside trying to give himself skin cancer.

We have mapped the route, determined our overnight stops, and located pet-friendly accomodations.

We have (probably prematurely, given the dog situation) booked the ferry. (The dog situation is the only reason we haven't actually reserved the aforementioned pet-friendly accomodations since we don't know for sure which ferry we'll be taking. Yes, it's causing some internal anxiety for me, thank you for asking.)

We have located the local Costco.

We have ascertained what the most likely equivalents are for our Harris Teeter and Target and mapped them. We have researched restaurants we want to try. We have contacted the local pet supply place to make sure they carry Dinky's particular brand of Hard Crunchy Bits.

We (and by "we", I mean Pootie, in this instance) have written an extremely detailed household operations manual, um, list for the future occupants of 305. We have made arrangements for our mail. We have plotted to turn the screws on Sprint so they'll give us a reasonable calling plan. We have obtained parkas (I got mine for my June birthday from my parents! North Face! Woot!). We have retrieved our almost unused LL Bean boots from the attic and made sure they're still intact. We have made preliminary lists of things (mostly clothing) that we're going to pack in boxes and have shipped to us once we leave. (We'll be "sending for our things" - all Old School and stuff!)

I'm sure I'm leaving some things out.

I told you. I do not mess around with my neuroses. We plan hardcore. I am professionally unbalanced about leaving my home.

But hey. You know what? I'll do what I have to do for my own emotional comfort. Doing what I can to alleviate anxiety on the front end will help me actually enjoy this experience instead of being wound up tighter than a two-dollar watch for the week it takes us to get there. Which makes me just heaps of fun to be around.

So I'll be picking some serious nits until we leave in August. Trust me. We'll ALL be happier.

Crab Cakes

2011-06-21T17:19:00.000-04:00

Man, do I love crab. LOVE it. And I got my hands on a good, fresh pound of it at our local seafood place this weekend. It's not Krab.

It's crab. Wonderful, salty, glorious blue shell crab.

Hey there, good lookin'.

That I didn't have to shell.

Get most of the water out of the crab meat. The wetter this mixture is, the more you'll risk the cakes kind of falling apart on you in the pan. Add an egg, a cup of breadcrumbs, a teaspoon of dijon mustard, 4 Tbs. of mayo, 1/2 cup of diced red bell pepper, 1 1/2 tsp. of Old Bay, 1/2 tsp. of kosher salt, the juice of half a lemon, a dash of Worcestershire sauce, and mix it all together gently.

Stick that mixture in the fridge for at least an hour. Then pull it out and put a large pan over medium heat and add enough olive oil to cover the bottom. Patty the crab mixture out into about six patties and cook until they're nice and golden brown, then flip them over gently and cook on the other side.

I had some nice farmer's market fingerling potatoes in the oven while all this was going on.

I tossed them with a little olive oil, salt and

They roasted at 400F for a little too long. Pootie was late getting his workout on. I hate that. You SHOULD cook them for about 40 minutes.

A green salad with fresh tomatoes and a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and we were set to go. I managed some restraint and had a few crab cakes left for lunch.

If you'd like to vroom these crab cakes around your kitchen, here's the .pdf for you.

Walt's Velvet Corn Soup

2011-06-18T17:16:00.000-04:00

I've really got to get a new (better) picture of the two of them.

As I've mentioned before a few times, Heather and Walt used to live next door to us. We love them, so when they moved, we kept them. We see them not often enough for us, but probably enough for them. I guess they like us OK. Heather did bring me back THE most awesome Christmas decorations from Disney EV-ER. A collection of all of the Disney villains. That's my kind of woman, right there.

Walt is... well, he's Walt. I don't think there's anyone who doesn't like him. Or know him. We had a joint July 4 party once and about 2:00 AM I was standing on the porch with Heather, looking at a BUNCH of people in my backyard and said "Heather? Who ARE these people?" She said "I have NO idea." At our Halloween party Walt changed costumes once an hour.

Well, you get the point. Walt is fun.

As it happens, he's also pretty skilled in the kitchen. An embarrasingly long time ago, Heather and Walt invited us over for dinner. Walt REALLY wanted to cook us his Asian soup and skewers and man, am I glad he did. He also graciously agreed to let me blog it. Which is good, because I probably would have anyway and just counted on him not reading it and busting my chops. It was a better dinner than I've cooked in quite a while. (I'm in a slump). Add the excellent company to it, and it was a great evening, as usual. Here are some very bad stealth pictures of dinner. (I used my phone - I figured it might be conspicuous if I took the real camera and started setting up lights and stuff in the kitchen.)

Well, OK, this one - maybe not so stealth

Dregs of the soup. Do not let the picture fool you. It was WONDERFUL. This, boys and girls, is why you never, EVER, use a flash.

My not-finished-thank-god-there's-more-left dinner plate.

Pretty tiny cupcakes from downtown. I love the Reese's one. Thanks to me, there almost weren't any left for Knox and Bennett.

Walt was generous enough to share his recipe for the corn and shrimp soup, and you should be grateful. It was SO good. But you know, that's Walt. He's that kind of guy.

Blueberry Squares

2011-06-16T09:50:00.000-04:00

This is actually the recipe for my apple squares, but (obviously) with blueberries instead of apples. This recipe lends itself well to almost any fruit. I've made them with strawberries, peaches, blackberries, plums... well, you get the idea. It's a perfect quick dessert, and most ingredients you probably have on hand. If you don't, it's probably time to head to the grocery anyway.

First, preheat the oven to 350F. Then melt a stick of butter.

Yes, of course you can use the microwave. I don't have one. Never have, as an adult. Haven't seemed to need one.

While the butter is melting, dump a cup of flour and a cup of sugar in a large-ish bowl.

Add 1/2 tsp. of baking soda, 1/2 tsp. of salt, 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon and 1/2 tsp. of nutmeg. Sometimes, when I'm feeling all crazy, I throw in a quarter tsp. of ground ginger. I know. You're thinking, "Simmer down, there, wild woman!"

Add the melted butter and a large egg.

Mix that together a little, then add a cup of blueberries.

Or sliced strawberries, or diced peeled apple, or chunks of plum or blackberries, or whatever turns you on. And is preferably in season.

Mix the fruit in gently. Try not to mush it all up.

Put it into an ungreased brownie pan (or you could use a 9 inch cake pan if you don't want squares) and spread it out. The batter will be pretty thick.

Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes, until a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean.

These lend themselves well to a scoop of ice cream (well, OK, there's not much that doesn't, but these especially do) or they're great just plain. For dessert. Or breakfast with a cup of coffee. Or a snack with a cup of tea. Or just anytime standing over the kitchen sink.

Here's the .pdf if you'd like to test drive them in your own kitchen. (Recipe below if you want it in the blog):

Andie’s Blueberry Squares

1 cup blueberries (preferably fresh)

1 cup sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 stick butter, melted

1 large egg

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

1. Mix together all ingredients. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes, or until tester

comes clean from center.

SodaStream: Not (really) a commercial

2011-06-15T08:41:00.000-04:00

This blog is a special request (holla, Ronda!). I do take those, by the way. I just don't ever get any.

Here at 305, we love us some seltzer. Neither of us drink cokes (do I have to reiterate that down here, "coke" covers all the sweetened carbonated beverages? I didn't think so.) but we love the fizzy water. We've been buying canned seltzer forever and would go through two cases a week. That's 24 cans of seltzer weekly, for those of you like me who are math-challenged.

Enter the SodaStream into our lives. Our friends Marc and Sara got one. We'd seen them, but weren't sure they'd make the water fizzy enough, that it wouldn't go flat, blah blah blah. They gave us a test run and we were sold.

Allow my beautiful assistant to demonstrate.

He's enthusiastic about his job.

It's a pretty simple contraption. You get two thick bottles (I think you can choose other bottle options - this is what we got), a CO2 cartridge or two or more (depending on how many you want) and the sprshhhter. (That's a highly technical term.) You will need to provide tap water. I guess you could use bottled water, but that kind of eliminates the lower-waste benefit of this, and you're not getting flouridated water. Don't get me started on that. It's a soapbox issue of mine.

To make seltzer, Pootie fills the bottles to the fill line.

Then he screws the bottle onto the sprshhhter.

Then he pumps CO2 into the bottle until it makes a very rude noise three times (the sprshhhter, not Pootie).

And BOOM! Presto! Fizzy water!

Yes, that's a Berner on that glass.

At this point, you could flavor the water. They have little bottles of stuff like lemon, orange and berry that aren't sweetened and are pretty good, and they also have sweetened mixes. We haven't tried those - as I said, we're not really into cokes.

We keep two bottles in the fridge. They'll hold their fizz for about a day or two, although we usually have emptied them out before the end of the day and replaced them.

When the CO2 cartridge runs out, we take it to Bed, Bath and Beyotch - I mean Beyond - and exchange it for a refilled one. Yes, we've already found where to get them exchanged in Canada. (That's just how we roll around here at 305.)

A hand model, I ain't.

We figure in a year, we're saving roughly 1,248 cans from recycling. And it saves us money, too. And we're getting flouridated fizzy water. Win- win!

So if you're looking for a nice gift for your dad for Father's Day, and he likes fizzy water (or cokes), here's an idea. I'd get one for my dad, but they already have one. (I'm seriously hosed for Father's Day. Accepting any suggestions.)

So check it out at the SodaStream site. Frankly, their video is better produced than mine, but also cheesier. Well, kind of. Thanks for the help, Pootie.

Andie's Big Adventure: Logistics. And Not Food.

2011-06-09T15:51:00.000-04:00

For those of you who are interested, I thought I'd post a short update on the status of our impending temporary relocation to Newfoundland.

We have, as I've already mentioned, procured lodging for our stay. Here's the house.

The blue house is ours. The cars aren't. We're not there yet.

Here is another view from out in the bay. I guess the photographer was treading water.

Again, blue house to the right. We are going to build a fort on the "hill" behind the house and if you try to stalk us, we will roll boulders down on you.

We may be able to see whales and icebergs from our deck. Which is pretty awesome.

So between searching for things like the Canadian equivalent of Target, and where the local Costco is, we're planning the actual trip.

This is something of a logistical challenge, since we will have Dinky in tow.

Hi there! I'm large, and rather unhelpful! I'm not towing ANYTHING.

Our biggest quandry right now is the ferry. We have to drive 4 days to Nova Scotia. When we get there, we have to take a (very large) ferry over to Newfoundland. The one we've booked is a 15 hour overnight one that lands about an hour and a half from St. John's, our final destination. Excellent. Eat dinner, go to bed, wake up and we're almost there.

Unfortunately, someone's wide furry butt won't fit in the largest kennel they offer. And the crate he WILL go in doesn't fit in their kennel room. We have been talking to the ferry officials and they are trying to figure out how to accomodate us. I suggested we put a hat and pants on him and just let him stay in the cabin with us, but they said no. (Imagine!)

I am sure it's because they know he'd be mobbed by chicks. And paparazzi. And who needs that kind of headache when you're trying to run a boat?

We have to wait until the captain who will be running the ferry at the time of our trip (Cap'n Pete) gets back from vacation. The very nice lady (Martina) at the Ferry office is going to ask if there's any other place we can put the crate. Our other alternative is take a shorter ferry ride (6 - 8 hours) and leave him in the car, which we can't access while the boat is underway. That unfortunately lands at the other end of Newfoundland, leaving us with an 11 hour drive after we get in.

Not ideal all around. I'm not thrilled about leaving my poor dog alone in a car with strange noises and weird motion for 8 hours, or having another 11 hours of driving on top of the four days we'll already have spent in the car. With all our stuff.

Hey y'all! Looky here! We're in Newfoundland!

So right now, we're in a holding pattern. Cap'n Pete gets back from vacation July 1. We won't know anything until then. Which means we can't really plan the trip and the stops and make hotel reservations yet. And I think that Pootie is experiencing some kind of hold up with visas or some other paperwork. They probably found out about my blog.

Have I mentioned that patience isn't my strong suit?

For now, I guess we wait. Meanwhile, if anyone has any advice on road tripping with a large canine, I'm all ears.

Grilled Chicken Thighs with Pancetta and Pesto

2011-06-02T10:53:00.001-04:00

Last night, Pootie and I had a date to go to Cinematique at Thalian Hall downtown and see a movie. (Potiche - it was good!)

Thalian Hall

Since we had a time-specific evening planned, I needed to get a fairly quick dinner on the table so we could eat, get the kitchen cleaned and get out the door. These chicken thighs fit the bill. Start to finish, they take about 30 minutes.

I always like to grill on a foil and parchment lined roasting pan. Keeps my grill from getting all gunked up. Place the chicken thighs on the pan and sprinkle them with kosher salt and pepper.

Then top the chicken thighs with chopped pancetta, about half a Tablespoon of pesto. You can add some chopped fresh parsley too, if you like.

Pop the pan on a hot grill (I preheat my gas grill to about 500F) or into a hot oven (450) for about 10 - 12 minutes. This time of year down here, I'm not keen on preheating the kitchen to 450, so I use the grill a lot.

When they're all golden and sizzly and crispy, take them off the grill. Done!

Serve them with a side of pasta tossed with pesto and some lemon zest and a nice green salad. Then hit the streets for a little weeknight fun!

You probably don't need written instructions for this one, but just in case, here's the .pdf if you want to follow along.

Pork Chops, Summer Squash and Boursin Potatoes

2011-05-25T17:34:00.001-04:00

This past weekend, I seriously scored at the Farmer's Market, mostly at Dave and Christin's Federal Point Farms booth.

Hey Christin!

They had squash, sugar snap peas, fresh basil, and potatoes, among other things, including gorgeous flowers.

I bought so much, I decided to once again hand it over to a pro to help me make the most of my vegetable greed so it didn't all just turn into brown mush in the crisper drawer. So I asked Tony Rosenfeld what to do with the snap peas, the squash and the cukes. He had some excellent ideas, and posted them on his Cook Angel site for me. I really suck at vegetables - I need all the help I can get. His suggestions are all simple and fairly quick.

I decided to start with the squash. I had some nice thick pork chops and potatoes from Dave and Christin to go with the squash.

And some Boursin cheese.

Which honestly probably would have served me fine for dinner, but Pootie wanted a protein and I did have that squash...

So I diced it, added a couple of cloves of smashed garlic, and simmered it in salted water for about 6 or 7 minutes.

Then I drained it, added a couple of grinds of black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil, and presto-chango - done!

For the pork chops, I just rubbed them with salt, pepper, paprika and oregano and grilled them.

Perfect dinner, and nothing took up oven space, which was a bonus, since it's been in the mid 90s for three days running here. (Why, yes, I AM ready to go to Canada now. Dinky is too.)

Dinner was great, but that squash really was outstanding. Coming from someone who is truly not crazy about vegetables that don't start with "potato", I would have been happy to settle for that and nothing else for dinner.

Fortunately, I didn't have to.

Here are the printable.pdfs of the squash and the potatoes, if you want to take them for a test dip. And if you have some stuff in your fridge and are wondering how on earth to craft that into a meal, head on over to www.cookangel.com and let Tony hook you up.

Salmon Over Watercress Salad with Grilled Vegetables

2011-05-19T16:21:00.000-04:00

Despite the fact that the weather hasn't warmed up as much as we're used to down here, (you'd think we were in Canada, or something), I've still been getting my grill on almost every night.

We picked up some nice salmon from Mott's Seafood, and gathered up some pretty vegetables and some watercress that really wanted to go home with me. And Christin brought me some dill from her farm last time they were here, and it's kept beautifully.

A lovely celebratory lunch with Marc and Sara on Monday involved a lot of grilled veggies, so I decided to follow Marc's lead at home.

You don't really need recipes for this dinner. Just slice the vegetables - whatever you've got - I had eggplant, red pepper, zucchini, tomato and avocaco - brush them with some olive oil and sprinkle them with a little kosher salt and pepper. Put them on a medium-hot grill.

Cook them until they're softer and browned on one side. I like mine slightly firm. You can cook yours longer if you like them mushier. While they're cooking, you can get the salmon ready.

I sprinkled my salmon filet with some kosher salt, fresh cracked pepper, lime zest, and a pinch of brown sugar.

I did my usual - cover a broiling pan or heavy-duty baking sheet with foil, then top with parchment and cook the fish over high heat on the grill. You'll want to get the fire hotter than it was for the vegetables.

If you're as lucky as I was, and manage to find some pretty watercress, wash and dry it, and toss it with a little olive oil and salt and lime juice.

Serve the fish over the dressed watercress with the grilled vegetables. I also added those nice smashed crisped potatoes. Go heat up your grill and get outside!

Andie's Big Adventure

2011-05-17T07:43:00.002-04:00

See my sweet little house? I'm preparing to say goodbye.

Late last summer, Pootie applied to a maritime history PhD program at Memorial University in St. John's Newfoundland. Canada. Many, many miles away. April 29, we received word that he was accepted with full funding.

The requirements for the degree are that he spend one school year (two semesters, which equals about 7 1/2 months) on campus taking a couple of seminar courses. And when I say "he", I mean "we". That means us, folks. Yes, we are relocating TEMPORARILY to St. John's, Newfoundland.

Someone send smelling salts.

A few of our friends, when given the news, have had the immediate (and highly appropriate) response of "OH MY GOD!! DON'T LEAVE!! WE'LL MISS YOU TOO MUCH!!" And to them, I send my deep affection and gratitude. And reassurance that we will be back soon. Some have responded, "Congratulations! What a great opportunity for P! You're going to have a wonderful time, and and Dinky will LOVE it!" To them, I say you're absolutely right. Thank you. And some have been all, "Oh really? Cool. Let us know when you get back." To them, I say "THBBFFFFFTT" (not really).

But ALL of them have said "SERIOUSLY? Andie! You JUST GOT YOUR NEW KITCHEN!! How can you leave it? Are you going to just cry and cry??"

Yes. Actually, I am. Thanks for asking.

I am handing the kitchen of 305 over to trusted hands for our lengthy absence, so it will be well cared-for and loved. But the timing... yeah, it's killing me. Then there's the fact that extracting me from my nest always takes a crowbar and a sedative. And I'm going to be over 2000 miles away. For several months. We'll be gone from September to mid-April, and given how pricey flights are, we probably won't be home for Christmas.

I don't know if you understand fully, so allow me to illustrate. This is me:

Thanks for designing the perfect graphic for me, Natalie Dee. Yes, I own the t-shirt.

Couple this personality trait with the fact that I work at home and rarely leave the house (look up the word "hermit") and maybe you'll understand that I'm having a little difficulty coping right now. For the past couple of weeks, I've spent my share of time like this:

Pootie has started carrying a tranquilizer dart gun with him everywhere.

You know that wonderful WWII British chin-up thing?

Yeah. Well, this is more fitting for me.

Sad, but true.

But in an attempt to reframe and pluck up my courage, this is what we'll be calling it on the blog.

Someone send help. And a therapist.

Now, the positives.

1. We have procured a lovely furnished rental house from one of the kindest people I've ever met. (With high speed internet, so I won't miss a beat with work.) Truly, if I have to have landlords at age 43 (almost 44), at least I got the nicest one. It's a vacation home in Portugal Cove, about 15 minutes away from the school, right on the water, and it will be perfect.

2. Everyone with whom we've been in contact up there has been beyond helpful, encouraging, understanding, and gracious. And people we've talked to who know anything about Newfoundland and especially St. John's have said the inhabitants are warm, welcoming and wonderful. (WWW!) So if I've got to give up my shiny new kitchen and peel myself away from my home and my loved ones, at least I'm headed to a friendly place.

3. This:

Someone at 305 is really going to dig the weather up there. The paltry dusting of snow above will pale in comparison to the winter this guy is about to experience.

Frankly, I won't be gnashing my teeth over heading North in late August either. That's around the time I start getting professional about whining about the heat and humidity. (Oh, who am I kidding - I start as early as July 1.)

Of course, there is a kitchen at our rental place, and I will make full use of it. Meanwhile, I'll be trying to utilize my new digs to the fullest before we have to pack up and make the arduous journey North. So now that I have my balance and my bearings again, (at least temporarily), stay tuned.

And to keep my hyperventilating to a minimum, kind words of encouragement are welcome.

Seriously.

Mother's Day Breakfast

2011-05-09T20:15:00.000-04:00

Mother's Day. Such a lovely holiday. I don't have human offspring, and my furry one didn't so much as make me a card. Ingrate.

Hi! It's all about me! Uh... hey. You gonna eat that?

My brother and I have a long-standing tradition of trying to beat each other to the punch with phone calls for our folks' birthdays, mother's day, father's day, etc. I almost always win because I live in EST and he lives in Denver (PWNED, beotch!!!) But it's OK. Because he's the baby and he's the favorite anyway.

Oh, it's OK. He's my favorite, too. And, good lord, he was ADORABLE! Do you BLAME them? (He still looks JUST like this. Except he has less hair.)

Unfortunately, I called a little too early and woke both my parents. (Sorry, guys! But hey, John? Still...POWNED, beotch!) I suspect I may have lost points this year.

Yeah, see? Me? Adorable? Not so much. Obviously, I liked cookies. (My dad did my hair. Isn't it lovely?) Seriously, Mother, couldn't you at least have pulled my shirt down?

So I paid her back for this lovely ensemble by waking her up 40 years later for Mother's Day. (Check that outfit. And she wonders why at 43, I buy my clothes at Costco.) I also paid Dad back for stretching my scalp and slanting my eyes with his "ponytails". I woke him up first. HA!

"Hi! It's 6:30 on Sunday there! Happy Mother's Day!" I had a nice, short chat with Dad, then a nice, long chat with Mom, then I had to run to the grocery. Phillip's parents were coming over for Mother's Day Breakfast and I didn't have egg one. I'd have loved to have my own parents here, but they're 800+ miles away. And they probably were back in bed anyway, after having been woken up at the crack of dawn. (Did I mention I won?)

The menu wasn't all that impressive. There was fresh fruit sprinkled with a little sugar:

Coffee:

Thanks for the teapot, Leigh!

Smoked salmon and cream cheese for bagels:

Scrambled eggs with chives and turkey bacon and bagels.

I tried to keep it on the healthy side. Multi-grain bagels, uncured turkey bacon, fresh fruit. It was a gorgeous day. We ate outside and talked and talked.

OK, well, Pootie talked.

His parents listened.

You don't need any recipes. You can all make scrambled eggs and dribble some chives in there, and you can all toast some bagels and cut up some fruit.

So do it. And invite your mother and father, or your mother and father-in-law over, and spend a lazy Sunday enjoying some family time.

Korean-Style Beef and Asparagus

2011-04-28T14:31:00.000-04:00

Here's one that utilizes all the fresh asparagus that's out there right now, and that let me try out the griddle option on the new range. (!)

Start a pot of rice. I like Jasmine, and I like to cook it in chicken stock instead of water. There you go.

Mix together a marinade of 4 Tbs. soy sauce, 2 Tbs. sesame oil, 1 Tbs. Mirin, 3 minced cloves of garlic, and a Tbs. of minced fresh ginger in a large bowl. Then slice a pound to a pound and a half of New York strip (or other beef steak) crosswise into 1/8 inch pieces and mix them in with the marinade. Let that sit for about 30 minutes.

Trim the woody stem part off a pound of asparagus.

Heat up the griddle (or a cast-iron or other large skillet) to medium-high and let it get hot. Drizzle the asparagus with a little vegetable or olive oil and sprinkle it with kosher salt and drop it on the griddle.

Cook that for about 7 minutes, until the asparagus is tender, then set the asparagus aside and heat the griddle (or skillet) up to high heat.

Put your Pootie in the doorway of the kitchen and make him keep you company and read to you while you cook. (He's done this for me for years, and it's wonderful. I'm reading "As Always, Julia" and she mentions that her husband, Paul, used to do the same for her.)

Once the griddle is hot, brush it with a little vegetable oil.

Add the beef and cook it quickly - just long enough to brown it and leave the center pinkish - about a minute or two per side.

Set the beef aside, and lower the heat to about medium-high again on the griddle or skillet. Brush with oil again and crack as many eggs as you have servings (this will serve about 4, maybe 6) onto the griddle. Sprinkle the eggs with a pinch of kosher salt.

These are prettier if you don't flip them, but I don't like runny white, so I always do mine over easy. You want the yolk runny.

When the eggs are done, serve the beef and asparagus over rice and top with an egg. Sprinkle it with a little chopped green onion.

Here's the .pdf if you want to sample the wares yourself.