Thanksgiving Part II - Dinner, Black Friday, and Sherlock

What better opportunity to blog about good eats and good times than Thanksgiving?! We’re driving home from Portland where we spent the last week celebrating the holiday with family. If I were ranking our visit I’d give it a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. Each and every day was perfect…filled with the kind of good times that make lasting memories. By Wednesday afternoon we’d already had a great visit with Maria and our pies were ready for the big day. Thursday morning Jana arrived from L.A. and Scott drove down from Seattle with the bird…an organic, free-range turkey raised in Sonora (about an hour from Volcano). Funny…we drove 650 miles to have a California turkey. Preparations were stress-free (if you’ve ever watched Verne and me in the kitchen, you’ll understand the significance of that statement) and our traditional Thanksgiving dinner was the best we’ve had in a long time.

Part of our Thanksgiving tradition is a visit to the mall on Black Friday. The tradition started several years ago when Amazon would offer Black Friday deals at midnight Thanksgiving day. Each of the girls would be ready at their computer taking advantage of the low, low prices for CD’s and DVD’s. Two years ago we decided to join the crowds at the mall on Black Friday. Our strategy was to arrive very early Friday morning as the all night shoppers left and crowds thinned. It worked. This year we threw caution to the wind and arrived at the mall at 8 p.m. Thursday evening when the stores opened. Very bad idea! You would not believe the number of people who bring the entire family and do all of their Christmas shopping that night. It. Was. Crazy! And, are the prices really that exceptional??? Let me share my experience…

I went to Macy’s to buy one item: an Artisan Kitchenaid Mixer. It was $350, 10% off for Black Friday with a $50 manufacturer’s rebate and I will get 10% back in January from Macy’s Thanks for Sharing Program, bringing the price to $233.50. I stood in line for about an hour to make my purchase all the while getting more and more irritated by the bungling sales staff (many of them ill-trained temps) and little kids running around unattended as their parents shopped. Friday morning Lauren suggested we check the price at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Good idea, as it was $230 after discounts and rebates. I thought long and hard about the $3.50 difference, but finally decided I’d keep the mixer I bought. However, Lauren had bought an attachment for the mixer the previous evening and the difference in price between Macy’s and BBB was $15…worth a trip to return her original purchase to Macy’s. One of our last errands Sunday afternoon was to do just that. Lauren made the return in record time. However, she returned to the car where we waited with some bad/good news…the Kitchenaid mixer was now on sale at a price $15 less than what I’d paid Black Friday! I was out of the car and into the store for my price adjustment! Thank goodness I didn’t return the mixer earlier, re-purchase it at BBB, only to find Macy’s had the best deal! There are a few lessons to be learned here: (1) Black Friday deals are not what they’re cracked up to be and (2) if you’re going to shop Black Friday, do it on-line and avoid the crowds and all the Crazies!

The highlight Saturday was the afternoon at Cinetopia watching Catching Fire, the second of the Hunger Games Trilogy. Doesn’t sound too exciting? Then you haven’t experienced Cinetopia or its equivalent (and you are obviously not a Hunger Games fan). Imagine a theater with over-sized screens, exceptional sound, and various levels of comfort and amenities: the Movie Parlor (one for families and one for adults only); the the Living Room theater with cushy chairs, loveseats, and ottomans; and, the Grand Auditorium. All of them have in-theater food and alcohol service and, surprisingly, the food is good. It’s like watching a movie on a huge screen in your own living room...possibly more comfortable than your own living room! Quite the experience for special movies, such as Catching Fire, or The Hobbit, which we saw last year at Cinetopia.

Our final day included a trip to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) for the International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes. Lauren attended the exhibit last month and was anxious to have Verne (another Sherlock fan) experience the fun. It was well worth attending and made all the more fun by Lauren's enthusiastic approach to it. We started with the history of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his path to creating the character, Sherlock Holmes. Next we had a crash course in the scientific approach to crime solving. Finally, we were presented with the details of a murder along with Inspector Lestrade's police report and enlisted by the one and only Sherlock Holmes to assist in analyzing the facts using forensic science (blood splatter, footprints, trajectory lines, and more). I'm happy to say we were successful and identified the true perp! 

After the exhibit we took Verne to one of his favorite restaurants, Deschutes Brewery, for lunch and a beer tasting. I think it just might have been the highlight of the weekend! 

Thanksgiving Part I - Holiday Pies

I'm writing this in Portland. We drove up early for our Thanksgiving visit so that we could spend a few days with Maria. She's the designated pie maker at all holiday events with her family and friends in Seattle and although they consider her a master pie maker, she looks to The Master and her mentor, Chef Verno, for cooking and baking tips and inspiration. In particular, this year she wanted to hone her pie making skills and learn the secrets of Verne's butter crust and his new rustic mini pies. Here's a picture of Maria with her teacher...and, yes, there is a cat on the counter!

We've been making and eating the rustic mini pies all summer. Not only are they a perfect size for two people, but they are quick to make and can even be made ahead, frozen, and then baked fresh when you're ready to serve. There's not a more forgiving pie. The free-form crust, which is one-fourth of a single crust, is rolled out to measure about 8" in diameter. Anything goes...misshapen, raggedy edges, more or less filling...it's all okay and they all end up with a rustic look that has pie-appeal!

Every Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday Maria makes several traditional pumpkin, pecan, and apple pies. After collaborating with her mentor, she decided to mix it up a bit this year and make two traditional pumpkin pies, pecan pie bars (I'll get to that in a minute), and a few rustic mini pies, including apple and minced meat. We've found that whether making a full sized apple pie or one of the mini pies, it's best to partially cook the filling (thinly sliced apples, sugar, spices, butter, and apple juice). In the case of the mini pies, we use one cup of cooked filling for an 8" crust and bake it for 45 minutes if freshly made and 55 minutes if frozen. The filling may be frozen in the pie crust or separately, in which case it should be thawed and used in a fresh pastry. These little pies are a great do-ahead dessert...and I mean well ahead. They may be frozen for up to three months.

Now to the mincemeat...or should I say minced meat(less), which is what I'm calling the filling I made and canned. I know that mincemeat pie is NOT universally loved. But, I love it! My mother made it every Thanksgiving and Christmas and it was my favorite. The holiday season is lacking if I don't get at least one piece of mincemeat pie. Scanning my Ball book on preserving, I found a few recipes for mincemeat and decided to try it last week. I'll give you an idea of the ingredients ...apples, light and dark raisins, dried figs and cranberries, currants, minced citrus (including the rind), candied peel, spices, brandy, sherry, and apple cider. NO MEAT! Yes, originally mincemeat pie was a savory pie that included meat. But, not anymore. It's basically a dried fruit pie and it is delicious. I need to tweak my recipe just a bit, but overall it has an excellent, fresh taste of the mincemeat pie I remember having as a child. I canned the filling in 8 ounce jars - perfect for one mini rustic pie and perfect to have for those few people at a dinner party who like mincemeat pie!

As for the pecan pie bar, it's just that...a "bar". Imagine the same ingredients that are used in a pecan pie placed in a 9"x13" cake pan, baked, cooled, and cut into bars. One of our egg customers (and excellent cook and baker) gave us this recipe last week. She raved about it! From past experience with her recipes, I knew that we'd love it. The bottom layer is a typical butter crust, but it's patted into the pan and baked until golden brown. The top layer includes all of the usual ingredients found in a pecan pie, but slightly different amounts (an extra egg and a bit less liquid) so that the filling is firmer than in the traditional pie. We made 24 bars, although they may be cut smaller to yield more. They are the perfect finger-food to top off a festive dinner or to take home in a to-go bag! Ideal for a buffet table!

If you happen to be making a butter crust, here are a few tips from The Master:
     1. Use unsalted butter;
     2. Cut cold butter into very small cubes;
     3. Add a few cubes at a time to dry ingredients in a food processor using the "pulse" mode;
     4. Stop processing as soon as the pie dough comes together...in other words, DON'T overmix!;
     5. Chill before using;
     6. Roll to desired size and place in pie dish and chill again before baking.

Fall Colors and More

Our trip to Connecticut last week to visit Jeff, Trish, and the boys was timed perfectly. Not so in past years…two years ago we traveled mid-December and froze our arses off. Last year our plans were canceled when Hurricane Sandy arrived a day before our trip. This year, however, we enjoyed temperatures in the mid-60’s and a beautiful display of fall colors. Perfect!

We spent our first day, Friday, touring the Mark Twain House in Hartford. Samuel Clemons (Mark Twain) was as charming as he was handsome and used both to win the heart of a very wealthy young woman. Smart man! The mansion they built together in Hartford, where they lived for 17 years, was an architectural work of art inside and out and would have cost millions in current dollars. We finished the two-hour tour around noon and drove to New Haven on the coast to have lunch and visit the Yale University Art Museum. It was exciting to see the Yale campus…beautiful old buildings, each filling a long city block, clustered together in downtown New Haven. The Art Museum is a newer, more contemporary looking building and includes four floors of African, Asian, European, and American art divided into pre- and post-1900 works. 

From there we drove on to Newtown arriving late afternoon. Jeff had planned dinner at Fusion 25 where the McKenzie’s celebrate all birthdays and other special occasions and some not-so-special occasions. This visit was to celebrate Verne’s upcoming birthday! After a warm greeting by the owner and a short wait, we were seated at one of the eight tables that offers the full experience of hibachi-style cooking and eating…think Benihana’s.  A good time was had by all!

There’s never a dull moment in the McKenzie house with one commitment or another all day long. I was told the Friday night-Saturday we spent with them is typical...The three boys are active in sports so it follows that the weekend included either a practice or game for each. We finished Friday night with an hour long tennis lesson for Parker…he’s got great foot work and the sport suits him very well. Saturday morning we started our day with Peyton’s golf match, walking with the team through the second hole. It was so cute to see him carrying his little golf bag, practicing his swing, chatting with his golf buddies…all of them so serious about the game and never fooling around. They looked like a foursome of little old men out for a round of Saturday morning golf. We were then off to Patrick’s baseball game. Some things never change…I spent years attending Scott and Jeff’s Little League games and saw the full range of parenting and coaching skills. In all cases, the kids just try to please the parents. Saturday morning was déjà vu all over again! (Yes, I know that’s redundant…it’s meant to be funny!)

We spent Saturday afternoon attending a Sandy Hook event to support local merchants whose businesses have suffered over the past year since the tragedy last December. We enjoyed lunch at the McKenzie’s favorite Italian restaurant where we again were met with a warm greeting from the owner…not Italian, but Albanian. He had me fooled. We were seated inside, and then outside, and then back inside for lunch. Parker must attract bees, because he was stung on the walk to the restaurant and no sooner were we seated outside on the patio to enjoy the warm afternoon sun than the bees arrived and began circling for another taste. It was back inside for us.

Mid-afternoon Jeff casually mentioned he’d invited a couple of families over for dinner that night. The mere mention of a dinner party is enough to cause my blood pressure to rise off the charts. Verne and I have been hosting dinner parties for over 20 years now and we still experience the same anxiety beginning about a week (sometimes two weeks) before the event. There’s hours spent planning and sometimes experimenting (practicing) with the recipes. By the day of the event, we’ve worked ourselves into a nervous frenzy. I’ve even been known to have a small meltdown as our guests begin to arrive. I watched in amazement as Jeff prepared for his company… He and Trish left to shop for groceries around 5 p.m. (YIKES! Not at least the day before???) He returned and began to make guacamole by hand…slowly in a Zenlike state he carefully minced, diced, and chopped the veggies. (Where’s the Kitchenaid mini-processor???) Jeff seasoned the chicken and put it on the grill, sliced the peppers and onions and began to sauté them on the stove, steamed the tortillas in the oven…gradually the fajitas came together. Friends arrived during the process (YIKES, this is when I’d definitely have a melt-down!), the wine was poured, we talked, we laughed, we enjoyed the food (the guacamole was excellent!) and good conversation, and around 1 a.m. (YES! 1 a.m.) our day came to an end. Whew! We were exhausted and hadn’t done a thing!

The balance of our visit was spent hanging out with the family. No sports. No company. Several glorious hours sitting on the back deck in the sun with a view of the woods, stone wall, and creek. Much of the time Patrick was running around playing football by himself, chatting non-stop, occasionally yelling “touchdown” and falling down and rolling in the grass. What a cutie! One of Jeff’s close friends owns a nursery and, more importantly to Verne, restores old cars and engines, so we made a trip to admire his collection, Jeff bought flowering plants for the deck, and the boys each chose a pumpkin from the fall pumpkin patch.

Patrick, now in third grade, wrote a note to his parents when he was in kindergarten thanking them for going to a “learn to be the best parents ever school.” Not only are Jeff and Trish the best parents ever, but active parishioners and community members. They manage to juggle all of these roles with ease, calm, and humor! 

Family Visit

Visits from family and friends always involve about as much time planning and preparing as the total visit and the Burkhard's visit this past weekend was no exception. Verne came up with a brilliant idea for our entertainment...a tour of the Kennedy Mine in Jackson followed by a short hike to the Kennedy tailing wheel, which has recently been the subject of a community improvement project to preserve it by enclosing it in a building. A few years ago we had hiked to see the tailing wheel, which is the only complete and standing tailing wheel remaining of the original four. When we got to the top of the hill on Saturday, the sight took our breath away. The tailing wheel now stands enclosed in a magnificent metal building with a beautiful paneled glass front for viewing. It's a work of art! The structure was paid in part by a grant with the remaining funds coming from community donations. The completed project might not have had such an impact on Verne and I, but we had seen the wheel before, standing there slowly decaying after being abandoned in 1942, and soon to join its sister wheels as a pile of decaying lumber. It was heartwarming to see that beautiful old wheel standing tall and now protected so that future generations may visit and learn its history.

I think everyone enjoyed the adventure, although the kids were ready to rest their tired little feet and have a Starbucks by the end of the walk. It certainly was far better (shorter, that is) than the hike Grandpa Verne took Kendall and Sam on a few years ago when one of the kids asked, "How big is 40 acres?" and Grandpa showed them by walking the entire perimeter of the property...through some of the scruffiest, rockiest, buggiest terrain in Amador County. Their bloodied legs healed with time (just joking), but their shoes were so dirty and full of burrs that they went home in a bag and were later mistaken for trash and accidentally thrown away! Our hike on Saturday was about a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10...very citified and complete with an asphalt trail and picnic benches. 

Here are a few pictures from our big event...

Pies of the Hand

First, let me explain the title. It was only after about a decade of marriage and a lot of movies, old and new, that I realized all of Verne’s really good lines and most of his good lines were from movies or music. Initially, I just thought he was incredibly clever. Then I started to hear his words when we’d watch an old movie together or listen to one of his favorite CD’s…although, scratch the music…I have and always have had a problem hearing the words when I listen to music. But, at times he has recited the entire lyrics of a favorite song and, lo and behold, I’ll hear one of those clever lines I’d credited to him. Understand, even after discovering most of his lines are not original, I was no less charmed by the man. His delivery is excellent!

As for “pies of the hand”, think back to The Witness when the grandfather talks to the young Quaker boy about a “gun of the hand” that was discovered after they took in the injured detective recovering in their home. It follows (at least to Verne) that the small pies we started making in June should be called Pies of the Hand. He refers to the book we bought entitled Handheld Pies by the same name, Pies of the Hand. Cute!

It has taken us years since the girls left for college to adjust our cooking for two. It’s especially difficult with desserts. Not so much cookies, because I freeze the cookie dough and bake a few at a time. Cakes and pies are a different story. I’d stopped making them unless we have company, because “sharing” to Verne means one piece for him and the rest for me. The pies we started making in June are sized for one to two servings, as are all of the pies in the book, Pies of the Hand aka Handheld Pies.  We started by making a single standard-sized pie crust, dividing and freezing it in quarters for future use as a small crust for a freeform, rustic tart. As the process evolved, we began making and freezing the rustic tarts (complete with filling) on a cookie sheet, bagging the pies individually after they were frozen, and then baking them whenever we got a hankering for pie.  We’ve now perfected this process and can go from the hankering to eating pie in 45 minutes!

We’ve enjoyed apricot, plum, and peach tarts this summer. Fall has arrived and so have the apples. This past week Verne helped our friend Otti harvest apples from her orchard. He wasted no time and within 24 hours had put by a dozen apple rustic tarts. It’s always wise to taste test, so we had one last night with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Just imagine…a flakey butter crust filled with just-picked apples generously seasoned with cinnamon, nutmeg, and a bit of lemon juice HOT out of the oven topped with French vanilla ice cream. The serving is just enough to leave you wanting for more. It was nummy! We just may need to do one more taste test tonight…

  

Portland in September

I’m beginning to write this blog as we drive home from Portland where we’ve spent the last week. It’s a beautiful day, beginning to look and feel a bit like Fall. Since we made the drive a week ago, a storm has moved from Southern California up into Oregon and Mt. Shasta, which we just passed, is now snow-capped. From the time we left Lauren’s condo this morning at 7:30 a.m. it has poured and continued to rain the 200 miles to the Oregon-California border, where we were greeted with blue sky and sunshine. We experience the weather-phenomena at the state border just about every time we make this trip. The rain (Oregonians call it “liquid sunshine”) abruptly stops as we drive across the state line. Crazy!

Our good friend Sally Simms flew to Portland the day after we arrived last week and we spent the next several days being tourists. After our last trip to Portland in June when we missed the factory tour of Bob’s Red Mill, I was determined to do it this time. Mission accomplished! We took the 1-1/2 hour guided tour on Friday morning and then visited the store and bought several of the products, including ground flaxseed, which our gluten-free tour guide swears by. Since Bob makes it, I’m assuming he eats it, and I’m sold! We met the man and he looks darn good for 86…

He still runs the company and has been a life-long advocate of organic, whole grain foods. I won’t share all I learned about Bob in this blog (come to Portland and we’ll take you to the mill for a tour), but he has written a book called “People Before Profits” (I love the title) and it seems he lives by those words, because when he turned 80 he gave the company to his employees. Quite remarkable!

Saturday morning it was off to the Lake Oswego Farmers' Market...

Lauren discovered the Market in June and has gone every Saturday morning since. She’s described it in detail to me, but I was in no way prepared for the size and quality of the market. It is Incredible! First of all, the setting is beautiful with over fifty vendors lined up along the park next to Lake Oswego selling everything from handmade pasta, fresh fish, and flowers to farm-grown pork products, including a fresh BLT. The Pig Guy wasn’t there this past Saturday, but his BLT’s are Lauren’s favorite way to start her weekends. All of this is good, but it’s the produce stands that are head and shoulders above any market I’ve attended. Did you know that carrots are available in a red, yellow, and purple as well as the typical orange?

Attending the Northwest Quilting Expo in Portland the third weekend of September each year has become a tradition and this trip, as well as all of our September trips to Portland, are scheduled with this event in mind. The show includes art quilts created by the top quilters from Oregon and Washington and traveling exhibitions from around the world. It’s a humbling experience for me. I used to think I was a fairly accomplished quilter. All it took was attending this regional show that first time in 2009 to realize when it comes to quilting I’m not the expert I thought I was, but rather an advanced novice. The winning quilts at the show are the Van Gogh’s of quilting. I always leave the show realizing my quilts are a step above the paint-by-number’s of quilting, but not by much.

There were probably over a hundred vendors at the show demonstrating and selling all things related to fiber arts…fabrics, threads, books and patterns, and all types of notions. There are always lots of  “specials” that are only available if purchased during the three day event. Actually, it sounds like a good sales pitch, but I’ve found it to be true. For the most part, we were good this year and resisted the temptation of getting caught up the shopping frenzy. That is, we didn’t buy much at the show. We did our share of damage at a local fabric store called the Craft Warehouse, where we found flat-fold fabric (same quality and some of the same fabrics we've used in our quilts) for as low as $4.00 a yard, down from as much as $13 a yard.  We shopped until we dropped…literally!

We’d gone to Portland prepared with a wheelchair as we figured Sally would need a little assistance in getting around the convention center. By the end of the day, I suggested that she take her turn pushing so I could give my feet a rest. I didn’t spend much time in the chair, but it was good for a laugh…

On Sunday, we did another factory tour of the Tillamook Cheese Factory located in…surprise, Tillamook, Oregon. It was a self-guided tour with the viewing area of the factory about the same size as Bob’s Red Mill, but our time spent reading and watching the production lines was far less because it was self-guided and we didn’t have the albeit interesting, but chatty guide.  The samples were great, including a smoked cheddar and garlic cheddar that aren’t offered at our markets.  The factory store offers their full range of cheese, blocks and off-cuts from the factory, and we are going home with a little bit of everything.  

P.S. On the drive home Verne told me that he's not going back to Portland if all we do is talk about cats...can you imagine that? As I finished this blog I realized I hadn't mentioned Lauren's adorable (and spoiled) kitten, Chloe. Here's a picture of the Little Princess...

Chile Today, Hot Tamale

“Chile Today, Hot Tamale” is a Verneism, something he's been saying for as long as I've known him. Corny, but I decided it's the perfect name for the salsa we've created over the past couple of weeks. I had no idea what it means and figured he didn't either, for that matter. So, I went to my favorite source...the Internet. The first thing that popped up was "chile today hot tamale joke," which goes like this: "What is a Mexican weather report?..." You know the rest! I then asked Verne if he knew what it meant and he repeated the joke verbatim.  That is, after he told me a fifteen-minute story about growing up on Sig and Flo's ranch in eastern Washington, a neighbor named Jay Polumsky, and dinner at harvest time when the joke was originally told. If you know Verne, you know he never gives a direct, one-sentence answer, but instead sets the stage with one of his colorful stories as background. I love it, unless I'm in a hurry! 

A little more research and I learned that Chile Today, Hot Tamale has become a favorite name for chile powders and salsa. Damn! However, that's not going to stop me from using it. Afterall, our salsa is for our own personal use (and gifts) and if someone should get testy about a copyright violation...we do have two (three counting Bashir) attorneys in the family. So there! Chile Today, Hot Tamale it is! 

Verne has been making a fresh salsa for over twenty years, but it’s just been in the last few months that he’s experimented with a cooked salsa that may be served as-is or used as a base for a fresh salsa. It’s taken a bit of tweaking, but I think he’s done it!  Our most recent batch is as close to perfection as we’re going to get. Did you notice it’s gone from “he” to “we”…well, it turns out most of our adventures in and out of the kitchen are a joint effort and this is no exception.

We begin the salsa-making process by making a trip to the Davis Ranch, also known as Sloughhouse, and buy several pounds of Roma tomatoes, a large basket of jalapenos, green bell peppers, onions, garlic, and cilantro. Verne calls the Davis Ranch and other farmers' markets "our garden". We've had a garden in past years, but decided the best garden is someone else's...much more cost-effective and a lot less work! Davis Ranch is one of our favorites...

Here's the beginnings of our salsa...

There’s probably an hour of chopping, dicing, and mincing; another 30 minutes of cooking; 

then 20 minutes of processing in our steam canner. A single batch makes about five or six pint jars. After the processing time, which differs for each type of product that is being canned, the jars are removed from the canner and carefully placed on the counter to rest, undisturbed, for 24 hours. The final step is to check for a good seal, label the jars, and store them in a dark, cool place. In our case, it's our pantry. 

There is something so satisfying about this process and the resulting product. Yes, it’s a lot of work for just five or six pint jars of salsa and it would be a lot easier and probably cheaper to just go to Safeway and buy it, but the experience would be far less fulfilling. I thought I was alone in this canning love affair, but it turns out small-batch canning is a hot new trend. We read an article in the paper just this past week about home canning and it seems Ball jar sales are up 30% from previous years. Everybody’s doing it! That also explains the large number of books available on the subject. And here I thought I was doing something rather original! Well, while it may not be very original, as Martha would say..."It is a good thing!"

P.S. This picture of our salsa is just half of what we canned today. Verne has called a halt to my canning and threatened to hide my steam canner! 

Wine Tasting Amador

This weekend was spent entertaining Vera's best friend, Jason, from Half Moon Bay. If we lived in Half Moon Bay, I doubt we'd leave to spend a weekend with Amador County hill people...but Jason did and we all enjoyed his visit. For one thing, it provided an opportunity to wine taste in the Shenandoah Valley outside Plymouth. However, before we started our wine tasting, we enjoyed lunch at the Sutter Hill Transit Center. We've admired the Amador Transit building for several years and had no idea it offered a beautiful spot for picnics amongst the oak trees and overlooking the Allen Ranch until Vera suggested we eat there. The spot held special significance for her as it was originally part of her family's ranch and she spent time there as a child. Lunch was simple, but tasty, and a good start to the next several hours spent tasting wines at five of Amador's best (that's probably debatable, but their walls were covered with several first-place ribbons).

We started our tour at the C. G. Di Arie Vineyard & Winery where we bought six bottles of their 200 Primitivo. They gave us our purchase in a case box so the next few hours was spent buying wine at each of our subsequent stops with the goal to fill it. You'll be happy to know we were successful! The winemaker and owner of Di Arie has an impressive background in food science and is spending his golden years developing world class wines here in Amador. Lucky us! We'll be going back to enjoy more of his creations. From there we went to Cooper Vineyards, a family owned winery established about ten years ago. Our third stop and one Verne and I were anxious to make was Sobon Estate. At the recommendation of a stranger we met at the Safeway wine aisle last year, we started drinking Sobon 2010 Fiddletown Zin. We loved it! The newest selection on the tasting menu was their 2011 Fiddletown Zin and it was equal to the prior year. We left with a bottle along with a Zinfandel Port. We next went to Vera's favorite, Charles Spinetta Winery and Wildlife Art Gallery. Vera and I tried every sweet wine on their tasting list and then walked the art gallery upstairs. It's a beautiful winery and worth a trip just to see the wildlife art used for their labels. 

Our final stop was a sister winery to Sobon, Shenandoah Vineyards. We lucked out as they were having a textile show... right up my alley. We walked the two rooms of art quilts and clothing, tasted a couple of their reserve wines, and walked out with a bottle of ReZerve Tannat, thus reaching our goal to fill our 12-bottle case.

Verne and I left Vera and Jason in Sutter Creek to explore and we went home to prepare for dinner (and nap). What did we have planned for our special guest? A pizza party!!! Years ago when all the kids were young (his, mine, and ours) we came up with a couple of kid-friendly meals that had something for everyone. One of them was individual pizzas and the other taco potatoes. I'll cover taco potatoes in another post. Our original recipe for individual pizzas came from Bon Appetit. We would make the pizza dough ahead, mise en place all the toppings, gather the family around our kitchen island, and each make our own personal pizza. We could always count on Jeff piling the toppings high! Over the years our dough changed with new recipes we'd read and try with our most recent favorite being a no-knead dough that uses very little yeast and rests on the counter at room temperature for 18 hours. It's so easy and the taste and texture is excellent. We make it ahead and freeze it for those evenings we have a hankering for pizza (actually, we most often just drive to Pine Grove Pizza and enjoy the best pizza in Amador County). Our toppings include a few of the old favorites (pepperoni, sausage, and green bell pepper) as well as a few new and slightly more gourmet toppings. One of my favorite combinations is garlic-olive oil, fontina cheese, prosciutto, and parsley.

We finished our meal last night with individual lemon meringue pies, also to be covered in a later post. Verne calls them "pies of the hand"(it has some obscure reference to the movie Witness). They were delicious and a sweet way to end a great day with friends! 

Veracruz Fish Tacos

We made the BEST fish tacos ever last night! Unbelievably, the recipe was from a WeightWatchers cookbook I bought several years back when I was participating in the program. Let me explain why we were cooking from a WeightWatchers cookbook when our personal cooking library includes over a hundred of the best cookbooks available, including our new Cooks Illustrated Cookbook with 2,000+ recipes. On second thought, maybe the answer is obvious! We have a house guest for the next few months and together we decided that cooking sensible, low-calorie meals during the week followed by an eating frenzy each weekend would hopefully result in a net loss for each of us by the end of her stay. We started the program last Monday by preparing a week long-menu from the Take-Out Tonight WeightWatchers cookbook with Friday night's meal Veracruz Fish Tacos. This killed two birds with one stone, as the saying goes, as it's low cal and used up some of the Dorado in our freezer making room for our 2013 shipment of Dorado. Actually, it's not shipped...we'll be driving to Portland in two weeks to pick up an ice chest full of fish Lauren caught in La Paz this very weekend.

We've been making tacos for years with Verne's ground beef and bean tacos a family favorite. One of my personal favorites is a carnitas taco made from slow-cooked pork. Last Christmas we received a gift-with-purchase cookbook called Just Tacos and have tried a few fish taco recipes in it, including Broiled Fish Steak Tacos with Smoky Adobo Mayonnaise and Baja Fish Tacos with Lime-Chipotle Mayonnaise...both Delicious! Well, Friday night we added a third to our Fish Taco Repertoire and it may just be the best yet! I don't usually include detailed recipes, but I'm going to make an exception so you'll be sure to try it soon...

Veracruz Fish Tacos

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium tomato, finely diced

1 tablespoon Cajun or Southwest seasoning (Penzey's, of course)

1/2 cup salsa 

1 pound white fish fillets, cut into small pieces

6 tortillas

In medium saute pan, heat 1 teaspoon of oil and add onions. Saute until just beginning to caramelize, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add garlic and saute 30 seconds longer then add tomatoes and cook until tomatoes are very soft, about 4 minutes. Remove mixture and cover to keep warm.

Wipe pan clean and add 1 teaspoon of oil. When hot, add fish and sprinkle with 1/2 of seasoning. Cook about 4 minutes and turn, adding remaining seasoning and cook another 4 minutes or until fish is just done and opaque in center. Add 1/2 cup of the salsa and reserved onion mixture and cook another 1-2 minutes to heat thoroughly. 

Lightly fry both sides of tortillas or for a lower cal version, cover with a slightly damp towel to prevent drying and heat in microwave. 

Serve with shredded cabbage, thinly sliced scallions, avocado and salsa.

Simple, low-calorie, and very tasty...Bon Appetit!

What's the Attraction?

We've made more trips to So Cal this summer than all of our trips combined for the past three years. I'm sitting here trying to pinpoint the attraction? Obviously "family" is at the top of the list (I'd be in big trouble if I said otherwise)!  The good eats we enjoy during our visits are always an incentive. And, the cool temps in Santa Monica are a nice reprieve from the sweltering summer temps at home. A few other pluses...we have our own apartment just a few miles from the beach (Jana spends very little time there and vacates it completely when we're in town) and it only takes us 6 1/2 hours to make the drive, which is a piece of cake as compared to the 11 1/2 hour trip to Portland. The last two trips we've gone through Santa Barbara, which adds a bit of time but provides an opportunity to visit with our friend Sally. This recent trip, unfortunately, included a visit with Sally in the hospital. We enjoyed a picnic-style dinner with her and her daughter, Dianna, stayed long enough to see her checked out and on her way home, and then we continued our drive to Santa Monica.

We had a nice surprise when we stopped for a Starbucks at the intersection of the 5 and Highway 46, which takes us due west to the 101 and south to Santa Barbara...a Bravo Farms is coming soon!!! If you don't remember Bravo Farms from Highway 99, re-read my blog "Road Trip Attractions" and you'll understand our excitement.

These frequent trips to So Cal have not been exclusively for pleasure as we've taken truck and car loads of belongings to Jana, all of which had been stored in our livestock trailer for the past two years. We've just about emptied the trailer so we'll soon run out of practical reasons for these trips and will have to admit that we're making them simply for the pleasure. This past weekend we had deliveries not just for Jana, but a chair Verne had repaired for our young friend Ted and Rubbermaid containers of my totes that Trish's mother, Marietta, is going to sell (that is "try to sell") at an upcoming Filipino event in San Pedro.

Friday, our first full day in So Cal was spent running errands for Jana trying to ready her for her annual Mexico trip with Scott and Lauren. The day started with our usual breakfast sandwich from Flake, the cutest little dive in Santa Monica with the best breakfast and lunch food around. Here's a picture of the place so you can appreciate it's originality with both food and style...

We delivered the kittens to a grooming pet spa for the day (nothing but the best for those babies!), had fishing line wound professionally on Jana's new reel that Scott gave her for Christmas, and so on. We are beginning to understand the traffic patterns in L.A. and managed to complete our morning errands without problem. Mid-day Verne left me at the apartment and drove to pick up the kittens at the spa and Jana at work as they'd left her car at the dealer that morning. Well, while we're learning to navigate L.A. what we didn't consider was the fact it was Friday before a holiday. Verne got stuck in gridlock traffic and it took a couple of hours to travel a few miles...fortunately for me, he only called once to tell me "It was the worst f_ _ _ ing day of his life!!!!" Well, we all know Verne can be a bit over-dramatic, but sitting in traffic like that is enough to ruin the most perfect of days. 

It wasn't ruined for long as we went out that night with Jana and Bashir and enjoyed one of the most incredible eating experiences ever. The executive chef and owner of one of the top L.A. restaurants, Tar and Roses, spent his grade school years as our next door neighbor. Jeff has remained friends with Andrew through the years, although he only occasionally sees him now and it's typically when he dines at Tar and Roses. It was an amazing meal with every course a culinary delight. I'd go back for any one of them and definitely not stop until I'd eaten one of the four desserts we tasted that night. Here's just one example of the creativity that came from his kitchen (it tastes as good as it looks):

Although pricey ($$$$), this is a perfect place to celebrate a special occasion. In this case, Jana wanted to take us there to celebrate Verne's birthday as we won't be seeing each other before his big day in October (with our recent regularity of So Cal visits, that could change)...

Saturday was a full day with brunch in Riverside at the Mission Inn with Ted and a couple of hours in Anaheim Hills meeting with Marietta. We then drove to Irvine where we met several people for dinner at Javier's. Pam and her son Sean arrived early for margarita's on the patio. My sister Jane showed up a bit later and finally the Burkhard's arrived around 6:30 p.m. Unless eating at a Rick Bayless' restaurant like Frontera Grill or Topolobompo in Chicago or Red O in Beverly Hills, I would never expect to enjoy fine dining at a Mexican establishment. Javier's came darn close. Both traditional Mexican (like my carnitas or Kendall's tamale - YUM!) and Southwestern (Jane's Garlic Shrimp Guaymas) were excellent. We'd go there again in a heartbeat. We have Raelin to thank for suggesting Javier's and Aaron to thank for treating us all to an outstanding meal. Here are a few pics from our evening together. Sorry Aaron and Sean, you both seem to have been left out of the pictures :(... My bad!

Here's my favorite picture of the evening...Kendall being served a bite of flan for her birthday...

I probably shouldn't say this, but Kendall's got to be our cutest, sweetest, smartest granddaughter!

A Farm-to-Table Story

Figs just soared to the top of my list of favorite fruits.  Never having eaten them as a child, I first discovered figs while experimenting with a recipe from Bon Appetit over ten years ago. To this day it’s one of my favorite appetizers: crostini topped with a wedge of fig and slice of Roquefort cheese, broiled for a couple of minutes, and served hot from the oven. It’s Heaven! More recently I sampled a brie cheese topped with a fig preserve and loved it. Who can resist the samples at Costco or, in this case, our local Safeway?  I didn’t buy either item, but I did begin searching for a recipe for fig preserves with plans to make my own appetizer and found one in my new Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.

Thus, I was prepared when we received an early morning call from our friend Otti telling us her figs were ready for picking…we wasted no time. By about noon we’d picked a box of the ripened figs and were home making our preserves. By 3 p.m. we’d processed two batches and had ten half-pint jars of fig preserves resting on the counter.  That’s got to be some kind of farm-to-table record!

This was a new and exciting experience for both of us. Fig trees and fruit are unlike any other. The leaves are huge, dark green, and glossy and do a great job hiding the fruit from the sun, as well as birds and, believe it or not, raccoons. The process of picking is best done with two people. One to climb into the tree and look for ripened fruit, cutting the figs from branches using a small pair of scissors, and then carefully handing each one to the assistant to be carefully placed in a single layer in a box to transport home. Sounds like a process that takes extreme “care”? You have no idea! Figs are incredibly delicate with a soft, edible skin that offers no protection. It’s no wonder figs are rarely available at the grocery store…they have a very short season, don’t like to travel, and insist on being eaten within a very few days of being picked. Keep them for any length of time and they begin to ooze their sweet, sticky “life blood” from a small opening in the bottom. (I speak from experience!) In one word, they are delicate! However, we captured the moment and now have enough fig jam to enjoy with both sweet and savory dishes well into next year.

This would be a good time to end this farm-to-table story, but our home canning didn’t end with the fig preserves. We left Otti’s that day not only with a box of figs, but boxes of plums and peaches, the latter being the final harvest of about 20 Elbertas. This summer I’ve bought lugs of Elberta peaches from R&K Orchards near Redding (see my earlier blog on our trip to Portland) and Zee Girl peaches from the Fruit Bowl on Highway 88. I’ve canned whole peaches in a simple syrup and made Spicy Ginger-Peach Jam on half a dozen occasions (almost 50 half-pint jars). The last thing we needed were more peaches, but I couldn’t refuse (or should I say “resist”) the opportunity to make jam from Otti’s favorite peaches. So, my next order of business after canning the figs was to make yet another batch of jam. I don’t know that the jams from each of these peach varieties tastes markedly different, but the source of the peaches is identified by the labels and each one has a bit of a history and conjures up a different, but in each case excellent, memory of our 2013 summer. After all, for me canning is all about the process, which begins with our road trips and search for the perfect fruit.

A Family Tradition

This past weekend we made our third trip to So Cal in the last two months. It's got to be some kind of record for us. For a little variety we drove down the 5 cutting over to the 101 about half way taking us through Santa Barbara for a quick stop to see our friend Sally. After appetizers that could have substituted as dinner, Sally served us an amazing meal that rivaled Ruth's Chris Steakhouse (prime cut fillets 1-1/2" thick grilled and then topped with browned butter and sauteed mushrooms, creamed spinach, scalloped potatoes, and carrot cake for dessert). The visit was short, but sweet. We left about 8 p.m. and finished the day's drive to Santa Monica.

Saturday morning we got up early and had breakfast from Flake, a little hole-in-the-wall that makes the best breakfast sandwiches I've ever eaten. We've spent so much time in Santa Monica lately that we're developing a list of favorite restaurants...Scary for two people who hate So Cal and begin grumbling about the congestion and smog as soon as we approach the Grapevine. We then loaded the kittens in their carrier and took them for a vet appointment. Have I mentioned that Jana's 5-month old kittens are precious...adorable...too cute for words? So, here's a picture of them at the vet's office patiently waiting for their exam...

Our trip this particular weekend just happened to coincide with my sister's business trip from Fayetteville, Arkansas. Jane is participating in the Laguna Art Festival, which runs from the first of July through the end of August. Unbeknownst to us, Jane spent this past week in Laguna Beach at the Festival and was returning home yesterday, the same day we planned to leave. It was quite the surprise when Raelin informed me that my sister was in So Cal through the weekend. Raelin was "in the know" because she's storing Jane's 100+ paintings in her garage and making weekly trips to Laguna to swap or restock inventory as it sells. What an unexpected bonus...Saturday afternoon we headed for the Laguna Art Festival. It would be easy to avoid this event as it draws thousands of people every day and traffic is a nightmare. We tend to avoid all things that draw crowds. As it turned out, we survived the traffic and found that the off-site parking with shuttles running every 20 minutes was very tolerable. We're already talking about attending the event again next year and spending a full day. We had a good time visiting with Jane, walking the Art A-Fair, which is a venue for non-Laguna Beach artists, and having dinner at the small restaurant that borders one side of it. I know this sounds a bit biased, but of all the art I saw, Jane's was the most original. There were hundreds of florals, landscapes, and the like. All well-executed. But, her Celebrity Dogs are so unique and different from the run-of-the-mill art we saw...she gets my vote! 

Sunday afternoon was the big event...dinner with "the Fam"! The single reason we chose this past weekend to make another trip to So Cal was because Jeff, Trish, and the boys were in town from Connecticut for a two-week vacation and it's a perfect opportunity to get together. We spent a few hours before dinner visiting and then met the rest of the family (Lara, Raelin and their families; Jana and Bashir; sister Jane, for a total of 18 family members) at the Spaghetti Factory in Fullerton. Dinner at the Spaghetti Factory has become a family tradition for birthdays, Christmas, or any other event that involves a large group. It's a family favorite...kid-friendly, affordably priced, and a familiar and unchanging menu. With one exception, that is...the only thing that has changed over the past 28 years we've been eating there is the addition of broccoli to the menu. Imagine the freshest of broccoli steamed to perfection, drizzled with browned butter, and sprinkled with a generous serving of mazithra cheese. So simple, yet impossible to make at home and get the same delicious results. Trust me, we've tried. So, we sometimes order it as an appetizer, add it as an entree, or take a bit home. It's all good and the kids love it! Our Spaghetti Factory dinner this past weekend was like so many we've enjoyed for near three decades...hugs, talk, laughter, good eats, more hugs, and our good-byes until we're together again. 

Deconstructed Ratatouille

According to the Foodie Buddha, “at the heart, any deconstructed dish should contain all the classic components found in the original.” Here’s how Deconstructed Ratatouille came to be.  Back in 1995, when we first moved to Amador County we lived in a darling house on Spanish Street, Sutter Creek, for six months from July through December. Each Saturday we would get up and walk to the Farmers’ Market. One day we bought a basket that included a recipe for Ratatouille along with most of the ingredients. It was a stovetop version and our first experience both preparing and eating Ratatouille. We all loved it, but only made it a few times after that.

Several years later we tried our friend Sally’s baked Ratatouille and fell in love again. Hers was a casserole with a rich marinara sauce, alternating layers of eggplant, green bell pepper, zucchini, bits of bacon, and grated cheese. Delicious! But, like all good things, it can be overdone and we managed to do just that a few years ago. Every Tuesday throughout the summer Verne and I would stop at Davis Ranch where I’d buy more produce than we could possibly eat in a week. You know the saying: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade? Our saying was: When you’ve got eggplant, zucchini, and bell peppers, make Ratatouille. We definitely overdid a good thing!

We’re back making our weekly trips to Davis Ranch, but we’re not ready for Sally’s Ratatouille. We did buy an eggplant a few weeks ago for one of my favorites, Eggplant Parmesan. And then it hit me…while our stomachs are not ready for Sally’s Ratatouille and it’s, albeit, an incredible amalgamation of flavors, we could create our own deconstructed version using the basic ingredients…the stars of the dish (red sauce, eggplant, and zucchini). By literally building on the Eggplant Parmesan with a topping of diced zucchini sautéed in butter and olive oil, sprinkled with bits of browned bacon, and finished with a chiffonade of fresh basil, I believe we’ve created a simpler (strike that…it’s actually only simpler in appearance; it's far more complex to make) and more elegant Ratatouille.

Briefly, here’s the process for making Deconstructed Ratatouille:

1.     SAUCE:  I put by tomatoes every summer when they’re plentiful by roasting/dehydrating them in the oven. The finished product is a concentrated, intensely flavorful addition to any sauce or may be used as an appetizer. Here’s how you do it: Thinly slice Romas and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment, drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, top with dried Italian spices, salt and pepper, and bake at 325 degrees for about two or three hours…until they’ve dehydrated, but still moist. Freeze what you don't use in a quart bag to enjoy throughout the year. Add a few spices and a little wine, puree, reduce a bit on the stovetop and WahLah!…you’ve got a delicious Marinara. Plan the better part of a morning preparing the tomatoes and then the sauce. Here they are ready to go in the oven...

and ready to go in the sauce or freezer...

2.   CHEESES: Finely grate a blend of Parmesan and Asiago cheeses. Thinly slice fresh Mozzarella.

3.   EGGPLANT (the Star): Peel and thinly slice a large eggplant, place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, heavily salted, and let rest and weep for about ½ hour. Rinse the salt and dry with clean paper towels. Prepare three shallow dishes: an egg wash, flour, Panko crumbs/cheese mixture. Dip eggplant in each and fry until golden brown. Set aside.

4.   Assemble by stacking the eggplant, sauce, and cheeses three high. Bake.

5.  TOPPINGS: Prepare and set aside...Fry the bacon bits until just done. Chiffonade the fresh basil. Just prior to serving, saute the finely diced zucchini.

6.   Plate the creation by pooling a bit of the reserved sauce, placing one of the stacked Eggplant Parmesan, top with the remaining ingredients, finish with a bit of the grated cheese.

BON APPETIT! Our good friend and dinner guest, Neil, doing just that...

If you want to give this a try, I’ll send you the recipe with more detailed instructions. Better yet, just join us for dinner!