Christmas Cooking Challenge

Nice job decorating the tree, Verne

There’s a reason I originally named this blog Moser Good Eats. As you may have guessed, we enjoy eating. More importantly, we enjoy cooking. Verne often tells the story of our early years together when we moved to the Bay area for my work and he became Mr. Mom while attending graduate school. Beyond going to school and taking care of the girls, his responsibilities included cooking. It didn’t take many hamburger helper- type meals before I gave him a gift subscription to Bon Appetit. That was all the inspiration he needed. Many memorable meals came from that magazine.

After three years in San Jose, we made the move to Amador County and for 18 months, which included two bone-chilling winters, lived in the cabin in Volcano while our house was built. During that time our neighbors, the Lairds, invited us to join their gourmet dinner club. Actually, that first dinner was as much an interview to make sure the group of five couples liked us as it was for us to consider the commitment of monthly dinners together. We were hesitant about joining for two reasons. First, the members of the group (later dubbed the Grub Club) were seriously accomplished cooks and we were novice, at best. Secondly, we were living in the cabin, 500 square feet for a family of four. Cooking that could not be done in an electric rice cooker was done on a camp stove in the basement (cold and wet during the winter). Our situation was not conducive to entertaining. However, we joined the group and enjoyed the next ten years sharing Good Eats with the members of the Grub Club. We learned from each other and were continually challenged by our monthly (later bi-monthly) assignments to make some part of the meal. Wanting to step up our game (beyond subscribing to Bon Appetit), Verne and I signed up for a series of cooking classes at Home Chef in Sacramento. For about six months we spent every Saturday morning learning the tools (most of which we bought) and techniques of home cooking. All of these experiences have added to our love of cooking and appreciation of good food.

Not surprisingly, our interest in home cooking has influenced our kids and their attitudes towards food in general. It’s a topic that keeps us connected. A shared interest. Gifts almost always include something for the kitchen and conversations include, if not focus on, food…Scott’s frequent weekend road trips to u-pick farms and hours spent in the kitchen canning; Jana’s shopping experiences at the Grand Central Market, a two-minute walk from her home in downtown Los Angeles; or, Lauren’s tasting experiences at New Season’s Market, the best-ever market conveniently located across the street from her condo, or her search (and test-tasting) of local restaurants to take “the parents” when visiting. For foodies, inspiration is all around us: magazines (our latest favorite is Milk Street), you-tube step-by-step instruction, food blogs, and each other. We share and encourage and sometimes challenge each other to cook beyond our comfort zone.

This brings me to Christmas 2017 and what turned out to be a cooking extravaganza. Last year Jana and Andy (Jandy) prepared Christmas Eve dinner and Verne and I prepared our Christmas meal. It was to be a cook-off with our guests, Andy’s parents, asked to judge the meals and choose a winner. They did, reluctantly, and it was the comfort food that Verne and I prepared that was awarded first place, although “in her heart” Jana still believes her team won. The dust hadn’t settled before Jana was planning her 2017 menu and cooking goals for the year, which included learning to make pasta and ricotta cheese. She researched recipes, tweaking each of them the dozen times she made them during the year, until they were up to her standards. Her final menu included an appetizer of crostini, roasted Roma tomatoes with fresh herbs, a smooth, perfectly seasoned marinara sauce for dipping, and freshly-made ricotta cheese (creamy and still warm). This was the most delicious, satisfying appetizer I’ve ever eaten. She had my vote! However, there was more to come, including an entree of pumpkin raviolis topped with fried sage leaves in brown butter and dessert of bread pudding topped with whiskey sauce. The entire day was spent in the kitchen. Jana’s enthusiasm for cooking and the care she put into each component of her meal was impressive. It was a hard act to follow. The following day Verne and I again relied on an old favorite, Memphis Meatloaf. Our meal began with a leak tart, which was well received, followed by the meatloaf. Not an ordinary meatloaf, but one that is covered with a Southern glaze and wrapped in bacon then placed on a bed of mashed potatoes, topped with garlic and rosemary gravy, sprinkled with a medley of sautéed celery and carrots, and finished with deep-fried shaved onion rings. It is comfort food at its finest! In keeping with that theme our dessert was free-formed hand pies with a filling of my dried apples and raisins topped with ice cream and drizzled with caramel sauce. Sounds good, but actually this was our failing. I decided to try a new technique and fry the pies. Big mistake! And, as Jana pointed out, I lost points because I didn’t make my own ice cream. Oh well, it was enough to put our team behind the Jandy team and while the judges chose not to vote (a wise decision), Jandy’s overall meal deserved the 2017 gold medal. Cooking complex meals like these is time consuming and exhausting, but oh so satisfying and memorable. As I’ve always said, “it’s the journey” that’s important.

Jana making pumpkin raviolis

Two cooks are better than one

Lauren making place cards for dinner

Lauren spent her entire Christmas/New Year’s holiday with us. Over the last few years she’s spent every trip to Volcano helping us Konmari some portion of the house or, in this case, the cabin. The concept of Konmari is to lighten one’s load and eliminate everything that is unused, unwanted, or unnecessary. We’ve needed to do this for a long time and the process is especially important as we work our plan to downsize and move by the Spring of 2019. Our goal this visit was to Konmari the cabin, which became my studio several years ago. What we thought would take an afternoon, turned into four of the days Lauren was home and included partially organizing fabric, culling art and craft supplies that in some cases dated back two decades, organizing everything remaining (labeled and put in its proper place), and thoroughly cleaning. Lauren’s final effort was to organize (and prioritize) my cupboard of unfinished quilts, several of which belong to her and a few to Maria. I really don’t know how I’d tackle the overwhelming job of moving without Lauren’s energy and enthusiasm for the task. She does her share of pushing and prodding, but mostly she just pitches in and does it. Our only break from our work was to spend a portion of a day sewing with Maria. It brought back memories of all the years of fun we’ve had together quilting and crafting in the cabin. Good times!

Maria busily working on  a lost and found project

Takes two to stuff a mouse with rice (another lost and found project)

Found while organizing and cleaning the cabin...

one of the few surviving (a fire) pictures of me as a child