Mother's Day 2014

Thanks to the occasional business trip as we get to see Jeff (and sometimes Trish) a couple of times a year when work brings him to Northern California. This past weekend they had an overnight layover in San Francisco on a company excursion in Hawaii. We met at the Union Square Hilton early afternoon and spent the balance of the day together. We set out from the hotel to walk (yes, walk…Jeff’s idea) from Union Square to the Ferry Building. Actually, it was a beautiful day and fun to get out and walk the streets of San Francisco. 

Enjoying a glass of wine at the Ferry Building...

On the return trip we wimped out and took a cab back to the hotel. The driver was of Middle Eastern descent and said little to us except to ask where we were going. In the short mile back we had three near misses (entirely due to the cabbie’s aggressive driving).  Each time he’d swerve, blast his horn, yell something unintelligible, and speed ahead to leave the dazed driver wondering what just happened. Because there were four of us, Verne took the front seat leaving Jeff, Trish, and me to exchange looks and stifle laughter (out of fear for our lives) in the back seat. The final near miss occurred as we neared the hotel speeding down an alleyway and a Smart Car pulled out in front of us. This time Verne yelled out the window at the car calling it a "Stupid Car." The cabbie laughed uncontrollably. He'd found a kindred spirit! We arrived at the hotel all laughing and Verne told the cabbie that was the best ten minutes he’d had all weekend and gave him a big tip! The three of us agreed Verne has missed his calling and should be driving a cab in the city. He’d fit right in!

Backing up a bit, Verne and I had arrived in the City early that morning and attended a Georgia O’Keeffe - Modern Nature exhibit at the deYoung Museum. It was my fourth O’Keeffe exhibit and very different from the others I’d seen as it was limited to the artist’s years at Lake George. The paintings were predominantly her study of nature and finding the essence of her subject matter to the point they became an abstraction. For example, her first painting of the flower Jack in the Pulpit began with great detail and realism, but after several renditions was simply a very stylized, abstract painting of a stamen. Apparently, she believed that she’d captured it’s essence. To be honest, I preferred the more realistic version.

After our visit to the deYoung and trip to the Ferry Building with Jeff and Trish, we returned to our rooms to catch a quick rest for our night out on the town. Oh! Did I mention our room with a view? Not just any ordinary view, but a panoramic view of downtown San Francisco from the 33^rd floor of the Hilton. It was breathtaking!

We walked to the restaurant, E&O Asian Kitchen, where we enjoyed a relaxing dinner that I can only describe as Asian Fusion. The menu included a blend of foods and flavors with Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Indian influences. Our favorite selection was the corn fritters, a signature dish since opening. Sound like something you’d find in one of our Southern states?  Not even close! It was made with whole kernals of fresh corn and minced peppers (and a few other ingredients we have yet to identify) and quickly fried to a golden brown and crunchy consistency. My description doesn't begin to do this food justice, so on your next trip to San Francisco go to the E&O and have a plateful of fritters! You won’t be sorry. Our walk back took us through Union Square...

The McKenzie’s left bright and early Monday morning for their flight to Hawaii. We took our time and decided to have breakfast at an old favorite…Bette’s Oceanside Diner on 4^th Street in Berkeley. 

It was a nice reminder of the eight years we spent visiting daughters during their college days at Berkeley. Nothing had changed including the menu, so we had our favorite, the California (Bette’s version of an Eggs Benedict).  A visit to Berkeley isn’t complete without a trip to Stonemountain. We did our usual, Verne sat in the car and smoked his pipe and read the newspaper and I fabric shopped. A perfect Mother's Day!

Surprise Visit

Maria surprised us this past weekend with a “layover” visit. She joined her best friend, Deanne, and family on a trip to Disneyland last week. Upon examining her return ticket, she noticed she had a one-hour layover in Sacramento. Hmmmm…a phone call and credit card took care of the rest. The hour delay turned into a four-day delight! (Corny? I know…sometimes I just can’t help myself!) I picked her up from the airport around noon on Saturday. We lunched at Three Sisters in Sac and then fabric shopped at the Sewing Cottage in Jackson in preparation for our weekend quilt plans. While we were running around having fun, Verne was on his way home from Cool April Nights, a car event in Redding he attends each year with his brothers. He arrived in time to share a light dinner of pickled beets (my latest canning obsession) and crostini with goat cheese and fresh basil (an old-time favorite) and talk about our day and plans for the rest of Maria's visit.

All day Sunday and until noon on Monday, Verne waited on us (he’s such a Good Man!) while we focused on Maria’s project, which was a beautiful, floral quilt for her friend’s 50^th birthday. You’ll see by the picture below that it’s near identical to the one I’d just finished for my niece. Not surprising, as they’re from the same pattern and stash of designer fabrics. We’ve already made plans to make another…this time it will be a keeper, one for each of us.

Since our Monday plans included my Master Food Preservers’ class (I’ll get to that in my next blog post), which runs from mid-afternoon until 8 p.m., Verne fixed us a hearty lunch of his homemade pizzas. Delicious! I won’t bother with detailed descriptions and pictures, as they too were identical to the three pizzas we’d made just a few weeks before (earlier blog post called Personal Pizzas). This was the fifth in the MFP series and the topic was jams and jellies. With five weeks of anticipation and having to get through two weeks of lectures on food borne illnesses and the prior week’s class on canning chicken (by far the most unappetizing product I’ve ever seen and one I will only eat if I happen to be starving and then I may just turn to cannibalism to avoid eating canned chicken!), I was prepared to be informed and inspired! Sadly, the class was a disappointment. My team made grape jelly and I will admit it tastes just like Welch's. I happen to love grape jelly. However, now that I know the ratio of sugar to grape juice is 7:5, I will never eat it again! Our second recipe was for blueberry jam and, again, it was a lopsided ratio of sugar to blueberries. Have these people (MFP educators) not heard that sugar is sweet poison ruining our health? I don’t intend to give it up completely, but I believe we should be moving from the Ball book on home canning, which was first published over a century ago, to something a bit more modern that uses less sugar and doesn’t come out of the jar resembling thick sludge or, as Verne described the texture of the blueberry jam, tar! Having said that, I own the Ball book and find it to be an excellent reference, but it is light on low-sugar jam and preserve recipes. 

Tuesday was spent going to a movie (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), more time in the studio working on another quilting project, and finishing the day with another of Verne’s fantastic meals. There’s been a lot of repetition in this blog post with mother-daughter matching quilts, the same pizzas we just had earlier in April, and now, I’m embarrassed to say, the same meal we’ve eaten thrice before in recent weeks…Cajun BBQ Shrimp with Dirty Rice! 

It’s my fault! Verne would never remake a recipe if it were up to him. He’d always be trying something new. I can’t help it…this has got to be the best shrimp dish I’ve ever eaten and I can’t get enough of it! Also, I like to serve the ‘tried and true’ to guests (and family). Maria LOVED it! This time we got a picture of it so you’ll be able to better visualize the jumbo shrimp (wild shrimp from Alaska that Scott gives us for Christmas each year) served in a sauce of lemon, spices, cayenne for a bit of kick, and plenty of butter. It's served with a traditional Cajun side made from white rice cooked with sautéed bell pepper, onion, and celery and seasoned with cayenne. It’s amazing to me that this handful of ingredients simply prepared results in such incredible flavors. 

I think we'll have to have it again soon!

  

Personal Pizzas

In the late 80’s when Verne and I occasionally had up to six kids for dinner (his, mine and ours, or some combination) we came up with some kid-friendly meals that pleased all of them. Tacos were always a favorite, which led to my own creation, taco potatoes (imagine a baked potato topped with all of the fixin’s for a taco, but without the shell. Then one day we read about personal pizzas in Bon Appetit and began making them for the kids. Actually, the kids made them. Verne would make the crust (he still does), I’d prepare all of the toppings (I still do), and we’d then gather around a large island in the kitchen and each make our own pizza to our liking.

Over the years our crust recipe has evolved and toppings gradually have become more sophisticated. Some of our pizzas might even be considered gourmet. Our latest crust recipe is a no-knead dough that’s assembled and then sits on the kitchen counter undisturbed for 18-24 hours. It’s the best! Also, we now make the pizzas on a stone in the outdoor grill (which will easily reach 500 degrees), rather than the oven, which leaves you with underdone crust and a hot kitchen.

While we’ve tweaked recipes and techniques, the experience is just as fun today as it was back in 1988 when we started making pizza with the family. Talking, laughing, forming the crust (tossing it in the air or free-forming it on the mat), piling it high with toppings or not. They bake for just 8-10 minutes....enough time to share one and be ready for the next off the grill. And, that’s just what we did tonight. Three tasty pizzas: Verne’s favorite Margherita; my favorite, garlic-olive oil, prosciutto, parsley, and fontina cheese; and, Vera’s favorite, mozzarella cheese, fresh basil, and mushrooms. It’s a fun, easy meal as all of the work can be done ahead and all of the “eaters” share in the assembly. The only special tool involved is a pizza stone for the grill!

P.S. Just when you think you know your way around the kitchen, you learn something new…Vera prepared her mushrooms by peeling them, an old trick she learned when she worked in the deli department at Safeway. I had no idea you could peel a mushroom. Brush them off, yes. (Although, I’ve never been thoroughly satisfied with the results.) Wash them, yes (according to Alton Brown). But, peel? The results are pure, clean goodness. Google it…I’m sure there’s a You Tube on it!

Trip to Bend

A few years ago Verne and I attended the Outdoor Quilt Show in Sisters, Oregon, organized years ago by one of my favorite quilt artists, Jean Wells. We couldn’t get a room in Sisters, which books a year in advance, so we stayed in Bend. It was our first time visiting central Oregon and we fell in love with the area. In particular, Verne liked the fact it’s the home of Deschutes Brewery, his latest, favorite beer. In fact, Bend is a craft beer mecca with more microbreweries than any other city in Oregon. Since that first visit, whenever we talk of downsizing and are asked where we’d relocate, the answer has been Bend. I decided it was time to either rule it in or rule it out as a possibility and we again visited Bend on a trip to Portland the first week of April. I’m sad to say, we’ve officially ruled it out. It’s a great town, but we’ve decided it’s not quite right for us. For the near future you’ll still find us in Volcano living on the most beautiful 40 acres in Amador County!

Although we've decided against Bend, we had a great time. We arrived early evening and had a memorable dinner at the Pine Tavern, a restaurant in the heart of old downtown situated on the Deschutes River and highly recommended by Verne’s brother, Keith. We shared a delicious Cajun shrimp dish served on grits that was very similar to a recipe we’d found in Fine Cooking and prepared (and loved) in early March. Of course, we couldn’t eat grits without laughing about the restaurant scene in My Cousin Vinny. Our home version was served with dirty rice, but after eating the grits I think we’re both open to the idea of substituting grits for the rice.

Our hotel was next door to a Black Bear Diner.  For the most part, Verne and I avoid large chain restaurants. However, about five years ago he attended Hot August Nights in Reno with his three brothers. They started the day, as the brothers do every trip together, with breakfast at the Black Bear Diner. From Verne’s sarcastic comments about the place, I got the impression it was mediocre at best. However, every time we pass a Black Bear Diner, he points it out to me. Annoying, huh?!  Well, I wasn’t about to miss this opportunity and I insisted on breakfast the following morning at the Black Bear Diner. I played it safe and had oatmeal (really, how can you mess up oatmeal?), but Verne’s biscuits and gravy weren’t half bad. Even at that, I’d still agree that it’s a step above Denny’s, but mediocre at best!

We spent the balance of the morning with a realtor driving all over Bend and the nearby communities and then drove on to Portland to arrive in time to pick up Lauren from work and begin an intense two days together. We always plan meals at favorite restaurants (for example, Manzana’s on the lake in downtown Lake Oswego or Deschutes Brewery in downtown Portland) and shopping (NO Sales Tax!) at Best Buy, Macy’s, Fabric Depot, and the like, a trip to Penzey’s, and a movie at Cinetopia. We did all of this and more.  (The “more” being a to-do list of fix-its Lauren left us when she went to work on Friday.) Our good time was made even better by a visit from Maria. She'd just returned from a two-month fishing stint and drove down from Seattle Friday morning to join us for the weekend. I snapped this picture at Cinetopia...the tree behind the girls is made from wine bottles. It looks a little like a Christmas tree, but it can't be. It's March. Whatever the occasion for the tree, it was amazing...begin saving your wine bottles!

Best-Ever Birthday

We just returned from a long weekend to So Cal and I’m still feeling a "high" from three days of Good Eats and Good Times.  The original purpose of the trip was to celebrate my birthday at Mozza Osteria, an elite Michelin-starred restaurant in LA started by well-known chefs Mario Batalia and Nancy Silverton in 2010.  Jana told me of her plan to take us there last December. We originally had no other reason to make the trip mid-March other than to have dinner with her.  But, over the past couple of weeks several “reasons” developed resulting in a very busy three days. Jana will be moving from her Santa Monica apartment at the end of the month, so there was packing to be done, and one of her kittens needed to visit the vet…both things we could do to help our daughter. Also, Verne ordered new computers from his tech guru in Brea and they were made ready this weekend, so we were able to pick them up and save shipping costs. We then planned to complete our trip by driving up the coast to visit our friend Sally and make bagels, as well as deliver quilts for a mutual friend and a pet portrait I’d been commissioned to paint for a Santa Barbara woman I’d met last summer. It was a full weekend!

We drove Thursday arriving early evening and met Jana and Bashir at one of our favorite restaurants, Musha’s. We were able to have seating in the “closet”, a small, private room in the back separated by curtains from another private, but much larger, room to one side and a hallway leading to the kitchen on the other. It was  quiet and it was perfect! The noise level in the main dining/bar area is not hearing-impaired friendly. In fact, I don’t think there’s a single restaurant in LA with acoustics designed for the hearing-impaired. Jana is beginning to also suffer hearing loss, so she is especially sensitive to my needs for a “quiet” table. We have a favorite corner table at Musha’s, but the closet turned out to be even better. Food was amazing as always. We tried several favorites and a few new items from the menu. If I had to name a single favorite LA restaurant, it would be Musha’s! We had a fabulous time and would have been very content to get up the next morning and drive home feeling like we had very successfully celebrated my big day.

Friday was busy with the vet in the morning, a drive to Brea to pick up computers mid-day, and packing the balance of the afternoon. Jana and Bashir picked us up around 7 p.m. and we drove to Mozza Osteria in Hollywood. Have I mentioned that traffic in So Cal is CRAZY?! A weekend dealing with it gives a person a better understanding of the cause and effects of Road Rage! The mileage between Jana’s Santa Monica apartment and Hollywood is probably less than 10 miles. Of course, in So Cal, people never talk in terms of “miles”, but instead minutes. It’s a minimum of  45 minutes to an hour, depending on the time of day, and can be as much as two hours with bad traffic. We managed to arrive fashionably late, but, thankfully, before losing our reservation. The noise level when we entered Mozza Osteria was like having a dozen radios and televisions on at the same time tuned to different channels and set at the highest volume. Even at my prime I don’t think I would have been able to hear. It was deafening. Literally! Thank goodness, Jana’s assistant had made the reservation and arranged for a room in the back used for hearing-impaired patrons. It was beautifully quiet…probably not considered “hip” as the average age was above 50, unlike the bar area and middle dining room, but it was perfect for my birthday dinner. I cannot begin to describe the food and do it any kind of justice. A few of our favorites included burrata with horseradished beets, walnuts and beet greens vinaigrette; steamed mussels in a sauce of chilies and herbs; grilled octopus; braised beef short rib with porcini mushrooms. We drank three bottles of wine, ate until we could eat no more, talked and laughed until we cried, and had one of the best dining experiences we’ll ever have.

The next morning began with a Flake breakfast with Jana and Bashir. We cannot go to Santa Monica and not have at least one breakfast or lunch at Flake. It’s become another of our favorites. 

We said our good-byes and headed for Santa Barbara to spend the day with Sally. We’d asked that she teach us to make her wonderful bagels. When we arrived, she was already mixing the dough. On went the aprons and the three of us made everything-bagels. Sadly, the mystique is gone and we now know how easy they are to make! Forming the bagels is probably the most challenging part. After the dough has risen and is ready to shape, it may either be formed in a small ball and the center hole punched with a finger or thumb; or, rolled into a rope, cut into small pieces, and formed into a circle. After the second rise, they are boiled in water with a non-diastatic malt powder, which adds the shine to the bagel’s surface; brushed with egg and dipped in a topping (we used a combination of sesame seeds, poppy seeds, caraway, and onion flakes) then baked for about 30 minutes until nicely browned. Couldn’t be easier!

About a year ago, I started painting animal portraits on fabric and then making them into pillows. It turns out my idea is not exactly “original” as pet pillows can be found on Etsy. However, most of them are reproductions from photographs. Mine are original paintings. My first pet portrait was of a Boston Terrier named Molly. I painted it as a gift for Sally a short-time after Molly died. My second painting was Maria’s beagle, named Betty, which I made into a large tote bag. This was actually only my third pet portrait (a Silky Yorkie)! My anxiety level peaked on Saturday when I got the call to arrange our meeting. My client arrived about an hour later, took one look at the pillow and exclaimed OMG! OMG! OMG!  There were more OMG’s, but that gives you the idea. She loved it! Thank goodness! 

All I can say is OMG! This was a turning point for me, as she was a real, live, paying customer! There’s no better confirmation that your work is Worthy than to have someone pay to own it. It was a wonderful way to conclude a wonderful weekend spent with people I love and enjoying one of my favorite pastimes…eating! Another Moser Good Eats and Good Time!

Perfect Pasta

Until recently, our only experience making pasta from scratch ended on a bad note and, I am embarrassed to say, we put away our pasta machine for a decade. We were members of a gourmet dinner group and it was our turn to host a meal. The entree was to be raviolis filled with a crab mixture and topped with a delicate creamy tomato sauce. As usual, we practiced by making the meal a few weeks before the dinner date. All went well. The day of the event, I decided to use Martha Stewart’s butter pasta recipe rather than the one we’d tried. Big mistake! It was a warm day and I didn’t allow the pasta to chill long enough and ended up with a mess.

After that experience, the only raviolis we’ve made are from a John Ash recipe, which specifically calls for prepared wonton skins, and is filled with a chunky asparagus mixture. Delicious! Last month when we had an abundance of butternut squash, one of the recipes we tried was squash raviolis made with a homemade pasta. Because we’d had good results with the wonton skins, we decided to use them rather than making fresh pasta. It had been over ten years, but my failure making fresh pasta was still clear in my mind. Well, our raviolis last month were a disappointment. They were edible, but certainly not something we’d make again. This time, I decided we would not be beat by a little failure in the kitchen.

Out came the pasta machine (after we found it buried behind other gadgets in the pantry we rarely use) along with a new recipe for butternut squash raviolis and two additional recipes, one filled with an Italian sausage mixture and another filled with a spinach mixture. A few hours in the kitchen and we’d perfected the process of making the dough and had made over 150 raviolis. That evening we sat down to a progressive meal of the three different kinds of raviolis, each topped with it’s own unique sauce. Today we made more raviolis to take as a gift to our daughter. They are a perfect make-ahead appetizer or meal as they may be cooked from the frozen state by adding just a couple of minutes to the cooking time.

We had another failure last month when we made butternut squash gnocchi. It was our first time making gnocchi. In hindsight, it would have been better if we’d started with traditional potato gnocchi to have a better feel for the desired consistency of the dough. Butternut squash adds much more moisture to the dough than a dried, baked potato, and our dough was much too soft to roll and shape. However, we managed to make and eat sixty (not in one sitting) almond-shaped nuggets embellished with the tine marks of a fork. Like the raviolis, they were also edible, but we knew we could do better.

If you want to make gnocchi, my suggestion is to take a lesson from the expert…Chef Fabio Viviani of the Yahoo show Chow Caio. We watched his show on making gnocchi twice, went into the kitchen excited and confident, and made a 100+ potato gnocchi. No special tools required and we even skipped the tedious markings we made on our earlier attempt.

Just a day in the kitchen and we’d filled the freezer with our tasty efforts. We’re already talking about our next pasta experience and our pasta machine is now in an easy-to-get-to, prominent place in the pantry.

Note: The backside of our pasta machine has two cutters – one for spaghetti and the other for linguine. Rather than discard the trimmings of dough (in our case, we gave them to the chickens) run them through one of these cutters, boil them in salted water for a few minutes until el dente, toss in olive oil and garlic, top with Parmesan cheese and fresh basil, and enjoy! After making raviolis this morning we did just that and enjoyed a tasty lunch of fresh pasta. 

Butternut Squash Challenge

This story begins with eggs. The 35+ chickens we bought as hatchlings this time last year are mature and laying on average 18 eggs a day. Not bad for this time of year, but not near what we’ll be getting once the weather warms. Thanks to Vera, we’ve picked up three new egg customers in the last month. One of them is a farmer who provides produce to local restaurants and sells at our farmers’ markets. We’ve agreed to exchange eggs for his fresh produce. For now, that consists of butternut squash. Thus, the challenge…what does one do with ten butternut squash?

I’ve always read that the most effective way to experiment and create art is to work in a series by taking one subject or a single technique and exploring it to the point of exhaustion. Over the past month we’ve done just that with butternut squash… eating it two or three times a week. Sound excessive? Not really. It turns out that this health-packed veggie (considered a “power food” rich in antioxidants) is very versatile. It may be used in its purest form, as a mash or as the basis for a soup, or in any number of casseroles, soups, or salads. We browsed our cookbooks and magazines and searched the internet for butternut squash recipes and found several we felt were worth making. A few examples of some of the better recipes we tried…

  o Penne with cubed squash, fresh sage, toasted walnuts, and Parmesan cheese

  o Risotto with diced squash that has been sautéed in butter until golden brown

  o Mac and Cheese with pureed squash

  o Raviolis filled with squash, ricotta, and Parmesan cheese

  o Butternut squash gnocchi

  o Mixed greens topped with roasted squash
  o Squash pie 

A few things we've learned about butternut squash - (1) it's harvested in the fall and may be stored in a cool, dark pantry for several months; (2) from its raw state, it’s best peeled with a potato peeler; (3) its flavor is enhanced by roasting it in the oven, which only takes 20-25 minutes; (4) a companion ingredient found in almost every (savory) recipe is fresh sage; and (5) it may be substituted for pumpkin...I ate all but one slice of the squash pie and found it to be almost identical to pumpkin in taste, texture and color. After eating almost an entire pie, I'm beginning to resemble a butternut squash!

Although a bit obsessive, this has been a good experience and brought us closer to our new friend, butternut squash. No longer will it be limited to a side at Thanksgiving. We've had fun scouting and trying new recipes. Not all are keepers, but even those less-than-perfect recipes have led to more experimenting and fun in the kitchen.