Grandma's Cookies

Michelle brought these to book group and we couldn't stop eating them. You will not get the recipe for Michelle's Grandma's cookies here, because I did not get it either. She is not giving it away. But they are exactly what a homemade chocolate chip cookie should be: moist and chewy, with nice chunks of chocolate. A little salty, a little sweet. Thin, so you think 3 cookies = 1 cookie. I think I ate 7, but Erin ate in the teens, she claimed.

Grandma's cookies are rare in our world of comestibles. I'm thinking about where my recipes come from, and it's normally a good search on the internet. Maybe from a cookbook. I definitely don't have any recipes from a Grandma. Or many from Mom or Dad. For the book group, I made Libby's Funky Bean Healthy Bean Salad, but I have no idea who Libby is, or how she came up with such a funkalicious side dish. I found it on vegweb.com. So what's the emotional tie to food? Grandma's cookies are so wonderful, partly because they are the perfect specimen of cookie and partly because of the story attached. Partly because of the value - the recipe was passed down and is therefore slightly mysterious. Only certain choice people can make Grandma's cookies happen again in this world.

There is Dad's Stuffing - every Thanksgiving he makes two batches - one that is sweet, one savory. The recipe is not a secret exactly; you can watch him make it. But he will not give you a tutorial. All I know is that you end up with two huge foil roasters full of stuffing that are best eaten with either a) a scoop of Cool Whip (the sweet) or b) a ladle of gravy (the savory). (The gravy is a semi-mysterious herbed and flavorful concoction suited to drizzle over the entire plate of Thanksgiving. Also a recipe that is not a secret, but neither is it blatantly advertised).

So maybe I'm not making Dad's Thanksgiving Stuffing now in life, nor am I trying too hard observe closely, but maybe I will later. It's Dad's now. Maybe Grandma's cookies and Dad's Stuffing are less about the food and recipe itself and more about the people who cook it...the food that makes us crave the people we love.

Oscars Night, 2007!

Michelle and Christian are very into this. Thanks to them, I've seen more Oscars movie nominees than I ever have. Leading up to the event, they had online spreadsheets for us to keep track of movies watched and rated. We had voting ballots and there were prizes! The decorations were superb.

As it flurried outside, we piled together with out of town Yorksters Angie, Katy and Mike, in Michelle and Christian's cozy Park Slope apartment on their huge and comfy couch. And enjoyed great food and wine, of course. M and C are dependable and serious with the wine - nice reds from various regions that they had picked up at neighborhood wine store Big Nose, Full Body. I had two from Spain and Australia, one a bit spicier than the other and both going nicely with the range of cheeses, meats, crackers, spreads and fruit.

In the spirit of Best Picture nominee Babel, I had made a well-received cous cous with chickpeas, almonds, dates, curry and cilantro. And for dessert, our hosts made the diner breakfast Olive ordered in Little Miss Sunshine - Waffles a la Mode-y. Mmm. Scoops of vanilla ice cream on warm, toasted waffles - especially the cinnamon mini waffles - is just goooood. We thought of all sorts of possible toppings, but the fundamentals were perfect.

And after watching the special past-Oscar winner montages, my movie list has grown ever longer.

Big Nose, Full Body
382 7th Avenue (between 11th and 12th Sts)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
718-369-4030
www.bignosefullbody.com

Cous Cous Salad with Dates and Almonds
www.epicurious.com

"Stoup"

Is it soup? Is it stew? No...it's stoup! I did not coin the term. Rachael Ray did. But it's a very good one and should be cooked up more often. Seth and I made a delightful stoup of chicken and italian sausage for the presidents birthdays. The first time I made this meal was in sunny San Diego with my cousins. Auntie was working, so cousin Mike and I had to feed Marc and Graeson. They were very happy when we sat down to eat, and I still remember Graeson's full mouth with little bits of tortilla chips spraying out when he said, "Mmm, this is good."


As you can see from the picture, the aroma of stoup also had an interesting effect on Seth. He became rather enamored with the pot of bubbling potatoes, peppers, beans and chicken...I've never seen this happen before in real life, but I did just recently see the movie Like Water for Chocolate, and know that when cooked with love food can have strange and wonderful effects on people...

This stoup is quite easy, can be made in one pot, and should necessarily be topped with cheese and crumbled tortilla chips.

Chicken, Chorizo and Tortilla Stoup
www.foodnetwork.com

Like Water for Chocolate (Como Agua para Chocolate)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103994/

Katie's Farewell Stromboli

Why must we say farewell to Katie?? It's horrible to keep saying good-bye to dear friends that have been leaving New York this year, seemingly in droves. And of course, they are some of my greatest food friends. Katie and I have shared much conversation, antipasti and after-work vino at Max Cafe in Morningside Heights and amazing lunchtime sandwiches at at Fresh Cafe (reviews forthcoming!)

The only good thing about friends leaving is that everyone gets together to share talk and eats. For Katie's down south send-off, Trish made some addictively good strombolis. They are very easy to make, and easier to keep eating ... I had one piece too many and definitely felt like a Stromboli during the train ride home.

Trish's Stromboli

What you need:

pre-made dough (Trader Joe's has a great herby one)
Sauce
Cheese
Fillings (we had some veggie and some carnie)

Spread out and flatten dough, arrange sauce, cheese and filling on half the dough, length-wise. Flip other half over the filled side, press and seal. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes, or until golden browned and crispy on top.

My favorite had scallops, zuchinni and sweet peppers. Mmm. As you can see, we ate two entire trays of the delicious stuff.

Although I could have easily rolled tummy-first back to Brooklyn, for dessert I had one of the best cupcakes in the land - buttery soft cake and fluffily pink buttercream frosting. Erin brought a big box from sugar Sweet sunshine, a bakery on the Lower East Side that I cannot wait to visit. Their website alone puts me in a cakey state of mind.

Farewell, Katie...please come back and eat with me soon...

sugar Sweet sunshine
126 Rivington St. (between Essex and Norfolk)
New York, NY
212-995-1960
www.sugarsweetsunshine.com

Sunday cous cous and vino

Sometimes simple is the best. Putting a few basic foods together and having a pleasant bowl of something makes me happy. Even better is a simple dish with red wine and good conversation. Especially if you are making important observations about life, you don't want to complicate things more with an elaborate recipe. Carlos came over for a late-ish Sunday night dinner.

Although the tempature was dropping by the second, we walked over to the best wine store in the neighborhood - Slope Cellars. It's worth the chilly walk and open on Sunday until 9:00! All recommendations have been perfect, and all have ranged from $10-12. Maybe $15 if I am feeling extra fancy. This time it was a beaujolais that was smooth, lightly velvety and just...nice. I have no wine description skills yet...

I made the first dish I had ever really learned to cook - White bean, zucchini and tomato over cous cous. So simple in fact that almost all the ingredients are in the title. Except for the most important, ever aromatic, chopped rosemary. One day I will write a nice song about my love for rosemary. It's very strange.

The dish: chop some zucchini, unpeeled, so that the green skin and red tomato create a visual zap in the stewy vegetable melange. Saute in olive oil and while the zuchinni is still crisp, add a can of white beans and a can of diced tomatoes. Then add as much rosemary as your heart desires, cooking until warm and herbed. Oh, and before all that, boil some water, turn off the heat and add cous cous. If you're not talking and talking like I was doing after a glass of wine, the whole thing only takes 15 minutes.

This recipe is from an excellent cookbook called Simple Vegetarian Pleasures by Jeanne Lemlin.

Slope Cellars
436 7th Ave, between 14th and 15th Sts
Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY
718-368-7307

Famous Duo

I'm so glad Alix came back from her travels. She and I have had some mouthwatering food experiences together - and it keeps getting better each time. By the end of the year, we will hopefully be famous for our dinners (although it's usually just the two of us). We made a late dinner last night - and when I say late, I mean midnight dessert.

We started with Alix's nutty and light hummus - secretly herbed with fresh thyme and rosemary. Fruity cocktails in hand, we eventually moseyed upstairs to print out our recipes from vegweb.com, which is a great site for vegan/vegetarian food. There have been few, if any, disappointing turn outs from that site. We had decided on an eggplant casserole, steamed bok choy and blueberry crisp for dessert. When making our menu, we usually start with an inventory of our cupboards, look up recipes accordingly and then barely have to get anything at the store. Results are often amazing.

The casserole starts by sauteing the chopped eggplant, portobellos, fresh basil and onions in olive oil, soy sauce and garlic. That's added to some cooked brown rice, with vegan-rella (soy cheese) mixed in and on top. Pop in oven to bake. Then make the easiest dessert crisp in the land: sweet blueberries with a crumbly, texturous topping. Pop in oven as soon as casserole comes out. The steamed bok choy barely took 2 minutes and was a perfect mate to the casserole. Inhale the wonderous smells....mmmmm. Sit down to eat and watch on the projector a slide show of Alix's travel pictures. Dilemma: eat ravenously or watch crazy pictures...can't multi-task...music playing is perfect, too. Senses overwhelmed with joy.



The blueberry crisp was notably delicious. I am happily eating the leftovers now. Generous nutmeg and a serendipitous ginger granola made the topping almost spicy. Recipe pictured above on the big projector screen!

Here's to another brilliant success.

New Year's 2007

There have been several notable food experiences in my recent past that cannot go unblogged. New Year's 2007 is a good example. The holiday this year was spent in Washington, DC with Justin and Company. After looking at some of the horrendous prix fixes and "special" holiday menus, it didn't take long to decide we should make our own feast.

And so, a promising menu was put together, especially designed to maximize the utility of Justin's new Christmas gift - the "Magic Bullet" blender-toy. No magic, exactly, and a little trial and error, but it did make some tasty appetizers.

2007

Stuffed Mushrooms
w/ricotta, spinach, parmesan and walnuts

Cream of Asparagus Soup

Pear, Goat Cheese and Walnut Spinach Salad

Roasted Portabello, Prosciutto and Gruyere Lasagna

Mixed Berry Tart with Chocolate Liqueur

Signature Drink: Sparketinis
w/vodka, cranberry and lime juices, sparkling water, and muddled mint

Although both of the mushroom and soup appetizers were a smooth and bright Kermit the Frog green, they were gobbled and slurped up quickly. And the pear-goat cheese-walnut salad combination has certainly been done, but it's too brillant to go unmentioned or uneaten.

The lasagna ... it is true that this dish takes a lot of time and effort to prepare, so I recommend a cranberry-orange rosemary sprigged cocktail in hand at all times. The effort was worth it; the sauce for this dish is all butter, milk and cheese, and that richness coupled with the salty prosciutto and meaty portabello was perfect for the last meal of 2006 [recipe from epicurious.com].

Our berry tart took us to adventures in phyllo dough land, which I don't recommend going to. Phyllo is layer upon layer of paper thin dough used expertly by Greek cooks for baklava and spanakopita. The layers easily tear, and buttering each thin layer of dough can be dull, but at least Justin now has a pastry brush to call his own. The dessert itself was tarty and crisp, a light follow up to our wonderful feast.

Life in 2007 will be deliciously indulgent.