Friday finds: Arizona dreamin

By in Friday Finds

From time to time when I’m not waxing sentimental about my days in New York, I like to wax sentimental about my days in Tucson (Arizona).

I moved to Tucson when I was just barely 20, after dropping out of the Rhode Island School of Design because of, or maybe instead of—it was never quite clear—a mental breakdown. I thought the desert would be a nice place to start fresh and find myself, as they say.

And it was. I loved it there, made amazing friends and stayed for 7 years—which is essentially a lifetime when you’re in your twenties.

I had jobs and I finished my degree in Tucson, but somehow I also had veritable gobs of time on my hands. On Saturdays, I’d spend a massive chunk of my day seeking out yard sales on a meandering route that would ultimately land me at the bakery with the really good streusel muffins. The bakery also happened to be pretty close to two good thrift shops.

It was a win-win situation, if there were no good yard sales I’d still get a giant streusel muffin and head to the thrift shops.

I have a few precious Arizona-themed vessels left from those years. My set of cactus glasses, a saguaro mug and my hand-painted Time To Draw glass. I’ve always loved the latter, because I got it around the time I left Tucson to draw (and paint) at an MFA program.

Happy Friday (even though it’s Sunday)!

 

 

Easter was beautiful

By in family, holidays, parties 1 Comment

When your kids are brand new and tiny, there are all these incredible firsts. Their first time outdoors, first time seeing the sky, first time wearing socks. Even a year or two in you still find yourself in awe over things that would otherwise seem mundane. Their first cucumber, first time riding in a shopping cart, first time touching sand.

I feel like that about my house right now. Easter was gorgeous, fun, beautiful, the best in years. I don’t know if it really was, or if we’re just so excited to be home again that it felt that way.

I think it may have been really good though. Here are some previous Easter posts for comparison.

We started the day with strawberries, cheese, crackers, hot cross buns, mimosas and bloody Marys followed by 11 kids looking for 115 eggs. Our tallying chalkboard got lost during the construction, so we used window markers on the french doors instead.

The Easter lunch tradition around here is savory pies, salads and pork. This year was particularly excellent in the salad department (some recipes below). And rumor has it Shane’s porchetta was fantastical. We also had excellent bread from Clearflour.

Once we were all stuffed the grown ups settled down to do some calming and engrossing Pysanky (wax-resist egg dying).

Also, we celebrated on Sunday this year. Weird!

• Cilantro, Celery & Almond Salad •
from Martha Stewart
super quick and easy

6 small celery stalks, thinly sliced on the bias
2 cups cilantro leaves
2/3 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup almonds, toasted and very coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Coarse salt
Morton Iodized Salt
26 oz
Find at a store

Combine celery, cilantro, raisins, and almonds in a bowl. Drizzle with oil and lemon juice, and season with salt. Toss to coat.

__________

• Thai Napa Cabbage Salad •
source unknown (except perhaps by my mom)

Salad
1 napa cabbage, shredded
2 large cucumbers, julienned
20oz edamame
2 large avocados cut and soaked in lime juice for 1 hour
2 cups finely chopped cilantro

Dressing
2 cups olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup sugar
juice and rind of 2 lemons
salt & pepper to taste

Mix all salad ingredients together, soak avocados in lime juice for one hour. Add avocados & dressing to salad, toss and serve.

Friday finds: Tiny things

By in Friday Finds 1 Comment

I’ve always loved tiny things. I don’t know why. Maybe because I’m a small person, or maybe it’s because I like things that mess with my perception of reality.Here’s a small sampling of tiny things from my dresser top (with a pencil for scale). Hope you enjoy them.Happy Friday! xoxo

Carrot cake 101 and other birthday things

By in cakes, parties

It’s Shane’s birthday today! We celebrated over the weekend so the plan for tonight was just a nice dinner with the family, and cake.

Shane requested a carrot cake, which is not something I’ve made before. I got out Perfect Cakes and was surprised to find a carrot cake recipe that called for a can of crushed pineapple. Weird.

I looked in New Basics, yup pineapple. Joy of Cooking? Pineapple too. Does everyone know this already?

So I went with it, and the cake came out amazingly well. Super moist, not at all pineapply in flavor. Pretty much perfect, like the best carrot cake you ever had (scroll down for the recipe).

Per Shane, we also had steak (which he graciously grilled himself), our very favorite Macaroni & Cheese and an endive and orange pepper salad because those are two vegetables Shane seems to kind of tolerate.

Rose set the table on her own and even took the initiative to put out pitchers of water and juice. This delighted us because it means she knows the unspoken rule about no bottles on the table for special occasions!

Aside from the usual dinnertime shenanigans it was a lovely meal.

Happy Birthday Shane!

• Carrot Cake •
from Nick Malgieri’s Perfect Cakes

Makes one 8-inch three-layer cake
About 16 servings

Ingredients:

Cake Batter:
2 cups all purpose flour (spoon flour into dry-measure cup and level off)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil, such as corn or canola
2 cups peeled and finely grated carrots, (about 4 large carrots)
One 8-ounce can crushed pineapple in juice
3/4 cup (about 3 ounces) pecans, coarsely chopped

Cream Cheese Icing:
12 ounces cream cheese, softened
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup (about 4 ounces) pecans, coarsely chopped and lightly toasted (optional)
6 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted after measuring

Method:

Three 2-inch deep 9-inch cake pans, buttered, with bottoms lined with buttered parchment or wax paper

1. Set the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees.

2. Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a bowl, mixing well.

3. Whisk the eggs in a large mixing bowl. Whisk in the sugar and continue whisking briefly until light, about 1 minute. Whisk in the oil in a slow stream.

4. Stir in the carrots, the pineapple with its juice, and the peacans, then fold in the dry ingredients. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans and smooth the tops.

5. Bake for about 45 minutes, switching the position of the pans, top and bottom and back to front, once during baking, until the cake layers are firm and golden and a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean.

6. Cool the cake in the pans for 10 minutes, then invert onto racks to finish cooling. Remove the paper before icing.

7. To make the icing, in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla on medium speed until soft and light, about 5 minutes. Decrease the mixer speed to low and gradually beat in the confectioner’s sugar. Once the sugar is incorporated, increase the speed to medium and beat for 5 minutes longer.

8. To assemble to cake, place one layer on a platter or cardboard round and spread with one-third of the icing. Top with another layer and spread with another third of the icing. Place the last layer on top. bottom side up, and using a large offset spatula, frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining icing. If using, sprinkle the toasted pecans on top of the cake, and press into sides.

Storage: Keep under a dome at room temperature.

Just add bacon (or don’t)

By in quick

One of my favorite kinds of meal for my part-vegetarian, part-decidely-not-vegetarian family, is anything you can serve with a side of bacon. That, and something you can throw together very quickly on a weeknight.

Tonight’s dinner delivered. Pasta with corn, tomatoes and brie is the kind of dish you don’t need a recipe for. It’s also the kind of dish you can serve with a side of bacon to satisfy the meat-inclined.

• Pasta with Corn, Tomatoes, Brie & Maybe Bacon

Heat the oven to 400. Put a few strips of bacon on a foil-lined baking sheet and bung them in the oven, you don’t have to wait for it to pre-heat. Then put a pot of water on to boil (two if you’re also going to have steamed broccoli with butter, like we did tonight).

Sautée approximately half a diced red-onion in a decent amount of olive oil till it’s soft. Then add 3 or so big handfuls of sweet frozen corn and cook a bit longer. Halve some grape tomatoes and throw those in once the corn is thawed. Cook until the tomatoes begin to soften but aren’t mushy, and off the heat.

Check on the bacon! If you want it crispy, you should maybe drain some of the fat (I don’t cook bacon often but this seemed like the right thing to do).

Cut some brie into cubes and put them in the freezer or fridge to firm up a bit. Then boil a half pound or so of pasta (and steam your broccoli). Grate some parmesan for sprinkling. When the pasta is al dente, drain it and add it back to the pot with the corn and tomato mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Add the brie cubes and stir to combine.

Serve with a sprinkling of parmesan and steamed, buttered broccoli or other green veg. And maybe bacon on the side.

 

Snow day pizza

By in dishes by shane

My husband Shane (aka David) is a great cook. He also has a great sense of humor. So, you know, win-win.

It’s blizzarding here in Massachusetts. Really blizzarding, like it’s been snowing for maybe 20 hours straight.

Shane/David watched the kids all day while I worked from home so that I wouldn’t have to use precious vacation or sick time. While Sid napped, he made brownies. And then with sense of humor intact—tough because the kids were more or less totally bananas for a good part of day—he made pizza for dinner.

Although we don’t like it as much as Shane’s homemade dough, we’ve been buying pizza dough from Wegmans for weeknight use. It needs to be really stretched, but if you do that, it works fine. Since it was just the 4 of us, Shane made just two pies, a margherita for everyone followed by a white for the adults. I kicked in a simple salad.

Thanks to Shane/David, for killing it today.**I want to say he’s a masterpiece, but that is probably way too cheesy.

Favorites reinterpreted

By in quick, Vegetarian

I love cheese ravioli with a simple, creamy tomato sauce, and not just because I love pretty much anything involving tomatoes and cream. It just feels like the right combination, the cream mellows the tomato so it doesn’t overwhelm the cheese in the ravioli.

Thing is, I didn’t really have a go-to creamy tomato sauce… dum dum dum dum… until now! Enter Marcella’s favorite sauce re-interpreted (recipe below). Just as easy as the original but a bit smoother and, of course, creamy (because that’s the whole point).

• Tomato & Cream Sauce •
interpreted from Marcella Hazan’s Famous Sauce

A 28oz can crushed or pureed San Marzano tomatoes, I like this brand
2.5 tablespoons butter (salted or unsalted, either is fine)
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and halved
1/4 cup (approx) heavy cream
Salt to taste (pepper too, if you like)

Put the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. You don’t need to cut the butter into pieces, just bung a piece from the stick righ in the pot. Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Remove from heat, discard the onion, stir in the heavy cream and add salt to taste. Add more cream if you like it lighter. That’s it! 

Serve with cheese ravioli (if you like) and with some grated pecorino or parmesan too.

Spicy cauliflower quesadillas

By in Vegetarian

I’m super excited right now because I have a totally new original recipe that I’ve been wanting to share with you… and I’m going to do that now. I actually made this for the first time on Superbowl Sunday. Shane was out and the kids were eating hot dogs, so it was the perfect opportunity for me to do two things (use whole wheat tortillas, and put spicy cauliflower in quesadillas) without being “harassled” as my elder child says.

The cauliflower part of the recipe comes from Anthony Bourdain’s  roasted cauliflower with miso tahini sauce. Basically you roast up the cauliflower and then put it in the middle of a quesadilla. It is totally delicious and the flavor can handle a whole wheat tortilla so you can feel a little bit like you’re doing something kind of healthy.

• Spicy Cauliflower Quesadillas •
Makes about 4 whole quesadillas

1 (3-ish pound) head cauliflower, cut or broken into pretty small florets (less than an inch)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon coriander
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 teaspoon cumin
Two generous pinches of red pepper flakes
8 whole wheat tortillas (we like the Trader Joe’s handmade type)
2 cups grated cheddar cheese (approximately)
Butter for the pan

Preheat oven to 450°. In a large bowl, combine cauliflower, oil, salt, spices, and pepper; toss to evenly coat cauliflower. On a rimmed baking sheet, arrange in an even layer, without crowding too much. Roast cauliflower for 20 minutes, turning sheet and lightly tossing halfway through.

Remove from oven and allow to cool a little. Your florets should have cooked down to 1/2 inch-ish pieces, if they are bigger than that, you may want to chop them a bit so the quesadillas are not totally unruly.

Spread 1/4 cup grated cheddar on one tortilla, cover with an even layer of cauliflower, then sprinkle another 1/4 cup of cheese over the cauliflower, top with another tortilla and set aside. Repeat with the remaining 6 tortillas.

Melt butter in a skillet over medium-low heat. Put your first quesadilla in the pan and cook, pressing down from time to time to try to adhere the top to the bottom as much as possible. Cook until a peek reveals melted cheese on the bottom. Very carefully flip the quesadilla, some pieces of cauliflower will probably escape, and cook on the other side until cheese is melted. Remove from pan and repeat with remaining quesadillas. 

Cut quesadillas into 4 pieces and serve garnished with hot sauce if you like**Obviously, I garnished mine with guacamole. It was ok but is not good enough to recommend.

 

 

 

 

Fresh pasta with sage butter, and other things

By in dishes by shane, family 1 Comment

One of the things I love about my husband Shane is that he thinks nothing of throwing together a seemingly fancy, labor-intensive meal at the last minute.

It was 5:30 or 6 last night when he said “I think I’ll make fresh pasta tonight.” “Do you have time for that? Or will we end up eating at 9:00?” I replied. “We have time, I’m just going to go play a few games of darts with the kids and then I’ll get started.”

And he was right! Even with the kids helping to make the pasta, we ate at a very reasonable 7-ish. And he made Rose’s dish into a smiley face to boot!

I love the delicate flavor of fresh pasta and don’t think it needs a lot in the way of saucing. Shane and I opted for simple sage butter (so good!) and had ours with a side of roasted orange cauliflower and a simple arugula salad.

Rose wanted her pasta with sauce and meatballs, we happened to have Polpo’s meatballs left from a meal earlier in the week.

Sid, in typical wacky fashion, chose to eat his pasta with butter, and a pinch of salt sprinkled directly into his mouth with each bite. Silly new restaurant trend? I hope not.

Valentine’s day latergram

By in family, parties, Vegetarian

It’s a family tradition of ours to have red dinner for the whole family on Valentines Day. My mom started the tradition and it was she who commandeered our (loosely interpreted) red dinner last night. Shane and I have always found the more traditional Valentine’s expressions a bit embarrassing, so red dinner works just fine for us.

On the menu: roasted beets with goat cheese, beet greens, roasted red potatoes and a radicchio and red pepper salad (with creme fraiche in the dressing, yum!). There was also a large piece of meat which was not particularly red and a lovely white wine with a doubly-lovely illustrated label. And sugar-coated strawberries for dessert.

xoxo

 

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