Meeting Zarah

Where shall I begin? For me, this was possibly the most anticipated meeting ever... Zarah had first mentioned that she and Martin planned a road trip across the USA last July. I held my breath and kept my fingers crossed that it would actually happen. Finally in February Zarah told me that the trip was on and that they would be arriving in the states on March 21st. Yahoo! Martin and Zarah arrived in the US with laptops in tow, so we exchanged emails occasionally as they worked their way up the east coast and I pestered her with Gmail chat whenever I saw that little green light... "Hi Zarah, are you there??"

The big day was April 21st. I didn't know when they would arrive. My anticipation mounted when I received a phone call from them mid-day - they were stuck in traffic, but expected to arrive in another hour or so. As the appointed time neared, I kept vigil by the window and when I saw an SUV slow near my house I ran out with arms waving. Zarah jumped out of the car and we hugged. Even now I cannot believe we finally were able to meet face to face, to eat together, cook together, and just spend time together.



The days flew by and we weren't able to fit in all I'd hoped we could. We did fit in a day trip to Winterthur and between the glorious weather and the gorgeous spring landscape, it was an absolutely perfect day. There was also a day for sightseeing in DC, and of course some time for hitting several cooking stores.



The most interesting of these was probably the Little Bitts Shop in Wheaton (sorry, no website!). They have everything you might need (and plenty of items I'm sure you never dreamed you needed!) for cake making and decorating. We both made a number of small purchases, but what I was most excited about were the beautiful papers for muffins or cupcakes. We also made stops at Williams Sonoma and Sur La Table.



Sunday I was treated to dinner prepared by Zarah and Martin - a spontaneous risotto made with asparagus and bacon purchased at the farmer's market that morning and sugar snap peas that I had purchased earlier. I was so impressed! When I make risotto, I follow a recipe slavishly. Z & M's risotto was out of this world and they never even cracked a book! Wednesday Phil and S. came over for a real, live "Dining with the Bloggers (and Phil)". Unfortunately, I overcooked the roast, but the gnocchi Zarah and I made were delicious.

Friday we all took the train to New York City for a weekend with Bob and Chuck, a fantastic dinner at Blue Hill, and a Sunday food-blogger meet-up with Julie, Luisa and Jen. It was so great to be able to meet the talented women behind the blogs. Our meeting was sadly cut short when Zarah realized her purse had been stolen (be sure to read Jen's eloquent letter to the jerk responsible). After a trip to Luisa's office so Zarah could call her bank, Zarah and I paid a visit to New York's finest so she could file a police report. We had been warned by the others not to expect a warm reception, but the lady who took the report was actually very nice. She was funny too... when she saw Zarah's bag on the floor she advised her not to leave it there saying, "this isn't Law and Order - everything's not sparkly clean", and handed Zarah some toilet paper to wipe off the bottom of her bag!

We parted Monday afternoon when Zarah and Martin headed over to Julie's for a few days. But that wasn't good-bye quite yet. We had a brief reunion in Maryland later in the week before they packed up the car and headed west. Saying good-bye was hard, but I hope someday I'll be able to visit with them again. I continue to marvel at the wonderful people food blogging has brought into my life. This opportunity to meet and get to know Zarah and Martin will be something I'll look back on fondly forever.

Meeting Nupur

A week ago Sunday I had the priviledge of meeting Nupur, her fiance V., and their beloved Dale. If you read Nupur's blog or have come to know her through her comments on other blogs, you probably already have an idea of what a nice person she is... and so did I. But I had no idea as I approached her apartment in New York City of how much I would enjoy our visit, how easy our conversation would be, or how warm her welcome would be.

I had contacted Nupur a few weeks back when I knew I'd be spending a day or so in New York on the way up to Vermont. I suggested we meet for coffee or something, but Nupur immediately extended an invitation to me to have tea with her in her home. As the date approached she sent me another email and suggested that I select a recipe from her blog for something I'd like to try during my visit. Of course, I had trouble narrowing it down to a single recipe and I wound up listing several that appealed to me. Deep down though, I knew which one I was hoping she'd make - her Batata Vadas, potato fritters with chiles, onions, and many other wonderful flavors. To my delight, the fritters are what Nupur decided to make! I wasn't the only one thrilled at the prospect of eating them - V. was pretty happy as well. He said they reminded him of college where these treats, readily available from street carts, were always just a few steps and a small amount of money away.

Needless to say, the fritters were incredible. Nupur had prepared the potato mixture and the chickpea flour batter ahead of time, but shaped and cooked them as I watched. She made the assembly and frying of the fritters look so easy that I am determined to make them myself, even if it does involve deep fat frying! Nupur also served a couple of other things which I'm afraid I don't have names for. The first was a mixture of rice flakes (sort of like rolled oats, only rice), peanuts and raisins (if I'm remembering right). This was also seasoned with some spices. A very tasty and addictive snack! She also served me a sweet which she characterized as a "dry pudding". It was a sweetened mixture of cream of wheat, nuts, and I'm not sure what else. It was just moist enough so that when lightly pressed into a cup, it held its shape when turned out onto a plate. It was delicious. Finally we had tea - a sweet milky tea with ginger and I think some other spices - yum!

While the food was fantastic, it is the opportunity I had to talk with Nupur and get to know her a little better that I will treasure most. What a kind, generous, and intelligent woman she is! I instantly felt at ease talking with her and really got a kick out of comparing notes with a fellow food blogger. As I was about to leave, Nupur gave me a gift from India - the beautiful bag you see pictured above. Meeting Nupur was a wonderful, wonderful experience.

Who could resist...

…a sign like this? Not me. I bought four heads, left one with Bob, and kept three for myself. This weekend I roasted two of them and made potato garlic soup. This is the first time I have roasted garlic where I have been happy with the results.



I followed Deborah Madison’s instructions in Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Her method is a little different in that you don’t cut the top of the garlic off. You peel off most of the outer papery skin, drizzle a little olive oil over the garlic, add some water to the dish, and cover it tightly with foil. Bake covered for 45 minutes at 350 F, then remove the foil and bake for another 30 minutes.



The garlic smelled really good as it was cooking, but the soup was amazing – better than potpourri any day!! The soup was made simply of onions, potatoes, the unpeeled roasted cloves of garlic, olive oil, bay leaves, salt, and water. It’s passed through a food mill, finished with a little cream and garnished with chives. What I found really surprising was that it tasted like a soup made with a rich stock and yet it used only water. It was delicious.

A “Relaxed” Dinner in New York

In the end it all came together – it was fun, it was beautiful, and most of all it was delicious. But relaxed? No. Bob, Chuck and I made most of the dishes featured in the October/November Fine Cooking article, “A Seattle Chef’s Relaxed Menu” last Sunday while my parents and I were visiting with Bob and Chuck in New York. Because of other plans we had for the weekend we weren’t able to do some of the advance preparations suggested in the article, so Sunday evening got a little crazy. My parents are used to eating around 5:00, but our dinner was on the table at a fashionably late 8:30.

We started with the “Homemade Bianco with Icy Grapes” which is Sauvignon Blanc wine infused with rosemary, mint and lemon zest and served over frozen red globe grapes. This was the recipe that had originally caught my eye in the article. My mom usually drinks her wine with ice because she likes it very cold. I thought this was such a clever and attractive presentation – the frozen grapes keep the wine chilled (at least for a little while) without diluting it. We didn’t make the perperonota, but Bob served several different cheeses with the wine including an aged Gouda that was really wonderful.

The “Mustard-Crusted Roast Chicken” was simple, delicious, and completely stressed us out. First there was the matter of finding space in Bob and Chuck’s NYC-sized refrigerator for two chickens to sit uncovered and coated in mustard paste for several hours. Then we had to figure out how to fit them both in the oven at the same time. Finally, there was the problem of deciding when the chickens were done. We used a thermometer to measure doneness, but had little confidence that we were doing it correctly. Somehow when we finally decided they were done (the second time), they were perfectly cooked.



As sides, we had Bob’s unbelievably rich mashed potatoes and the “Warm Green Bean, Pancetta & Tomato Salad with Parmesan”. Part of the salad prep had been done earlier, but cooking the beans and preparing the hot dressing were to be done at the last minute. Earlier that day Chuck had been visiting my blog and saw the comment that Michael left. He warned that the dressing explodes when the vinegar mixture is added to the warmed fat and oil. We were glad to have the heads-up. Chuck very carefully prepared the dressing and fortunately there were no explosions.

Everyone was very hungry by the time dinner was finally served, but it was worth the wait. The table was beautifully set and the food was delicious. We finished up with the “Cornmeal Rosemary Cake with Pine Nuts & Orange Glaze”. I love corn meal, and had been looking forward to trying this recipe. It has an unusual touch – blanched rosemary leaves are mixed into the orange glaze. The cake was as lovely to look at as it was to eat.

NYC Weekend

I have a long weekend in NYC coming up which I'm really looking forward to. It's a special occasion of sorts since my parents are also going, so my brother has a fabulous weekend planned. We'll be seeing a play, eating out, and Sunday night we'll be cooking "A Seattle Chef's Relaxed Menu" from the October/November issue of Fine Cooking. Best of all, we get to visit with Bob and Chuck.

Have a wonderful weekend - I'll see you back here next week!

Fourth of July Feast – Part II

Bob and I started preparing for our feast Saturday morning with trips to the farmers market, Jefferson Market, and Murray’s Cheese Shop.

I love the Union Square Greenmarket! The produce is varied and abundant and the quality is amazing. In addition to the requisite fruits and vegetables, there are vendors selling meats, cheeses, baked goods, jams, plants, and lots and lots of gorgeous flowers. Bob had made an earlier trip, but we still needed a few things. We had to get a beet for the infamous beet paste, radishes for our salad, and of course – flowers. We managed to come home with much more, including a huge bunch of basil (for $2.00!) and red carrots.


Echinacea from the farmers market

Jefferson Market is Bob’s favorite grocery store. While Jefferson Market has beautiful produce, it is the meat counter that is the real star. Actually, when they were in the smaller space a few years ago, I thought of the place as a meat store with a few other things. They now have most everything you might need and, according to my brother, the service is great. We were here for the basics – eggs, sugar, flour, etc. We also got some wonderful breakfast sausage for Sunday morning.

Murray’s Cheese Shop was new for both of us. It is listed as a source in the Babbo Cookbook and since we needed some Pecorino cheese for the salad, we had a good excuse to make the trip. We didn’t spend much time there, but they appeared to have a huge variety of cheeses – plenty of which I’d never heard of before! We left with a young Pecorino for the salad and a chunk of Parmesan for grating.

Our shopping completed, it was time to get to work. We did some prep work for the salad and made the sour cherry jam that would top our vanilla ice cream. Sour cherries are hard to come by because they are so fragile. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them in the grocery store. Fortunately, they do have them at the Union Square Greenmarket. Bob had bought a quart which turned out to be just slightly more than the one pound that we needed. Pitting the cherries was easy with Bob’s new cherry pitter (Williams Sonoma sells these in their stores, but apparently not on-line) and the recipe for the jam (from the Babbo Cookbook) couldn’t have been simpler. Combine a pound of pitted sour cherries with one and a quarter cups of sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook until the juices are released and then continue to cook until the jam is reduced to the desired consistency. We showed great restraint and didn’t dig into the jam until the following day, but it was incredible!


Sour cherries


Sour cherries and sugar - that's all!


Juices released


Sour cherry jam

With our sour cherry jam cooling in the fridge and Chuck home from work, we were ready to let someone else cook dinner for us that evening. Lucky us – we had reservations at Lupa!

Fourth of July Feast - Part I

I spent this past weekend in New York City with my brother and his partner. We had the most wonderful weekend. We saw “Much Ado About Nothing” in Central Park (fantastic!), had dinner at Lupa (yum!), celebrated my birthday a little early, “swam” in an inflatable pool set up on their terrace, and prepared a feast for just the three of us on the fourth.

Our menu:

Fava Bean and Pecorino Salad with Prosciutto
Red White and Blue Ravioli
Zucchini and Summer Squash with Pecorino Cheese
Flank Steak marinated in Bourbon and Soy Sauce
Vanilla Ice Cream with Sour Cherry Jam

My brother started talking about making red white and blue pasta for the Fourth of July weeks ago and it was definitely the major focus of our efforts this weekend. Early on we discussed how we might color the pasta. We considered using blueberries, but decided they would produce purple pasta rather than blue. Since we couldn’t think of any other possibilities for blue, we resorted to using blue food coloring. We decided to use beets for the red, having ruled out red peppers because one of us doesn’t like them.

We turned the kitchen upside down trying to produce the beet paste that we would use to tint the pasta red. First we wrapped a beet in foil and baked it. Then we peeled the beet, chopped it roughly and put it in the food processor. We were unable to get the consistency we wanted and thought it might have been because the food processor bowl was too big, so we pulled out the smaller bowl and tried it. We still had minced beets rather than a paste, so next we tried the blender. The mixture was too thick to circulate in the blender and it looked like we might have to give up on using beet, but Chuck came to the rescue and with careful prodding and pulsing succeeded in producing a perfectly smooth beet paste.


Our finished beet paste (finally!!)

Normally, you should incorporate your coloring agent into the eggs and then combine the egg mixture with the flour. Because we were dividing the recipe into three portions, each with a different color, we decided to add the coloring after the eggs were combined with the flour. Adding a few drops of blue food coloring in this way was not a problem, but adding more than a tablespoon of beet paste was. Chuck was persistent in working the dough and it finally came together. We added some more flour to compensate for the liquid in the beet paste and ended up with “red” dough that handled equally as well as the blue and the uncolored “white” doughs.


White, red and blue dough

We used a spinach and ricotta filling that we prepared from a recipe in Pam Anderson’s “How to Cook Without a Book”. We chose a triangular shape for the ravioli because it seemed simplest and, I rationalized, it was sort of like a folded flag. We started with the white dough and were a little slow at first. But by the second batch we were adept at kneading and thinning the dough in the pasta maker, and had set up a production line for cutting, filling, sealing, and trimming the ravioli. It was amazing that the three of us could fit in that tiny kitchen (but what a beautiful kitchen!) and get anything done, let alone produce over 100 ravioli!


This gives you a good idea how small the kitchen is - the stove and fridge are on the left and the sink and dishwasher are on the right


A good view of the kitchen


Thinning the dough


Red ravioli not yet cooked

In the end our red pasta was more salmon-colored than red and our blue pasta bore a marked resemblance to play dough, but my brother’s vision was realized – we had red white and blue pasta for the Fourth of July!


Cooked...


...and plated


And this is Bill, whose only job was to be a sweetie

Long Weekend in NYC

I’m off to New York for the weekend. I’ll be spending it with my brother and my dearest friend. The three of us will play and cook all weekend. Hope you have a happy and safe 4th!