Food & Family = Home

As always our New Year began with our Tastebuds preparing brunch together.  This year was a bit bittersweet as there was a hole in our gathering without our dear friends who moved last summer.  It was a relaxed day with quiet conversations, kids playing, and food preparation.  We each fell into our roles, prepped food, helped where needed without a word or a need for asking.  It is really interesting how a group can begin to anticipate over the years and just click in place.   It was Mastering the Art of French Cooking (as we had all watched in the movie Julie and Julia), that had inspired our group to begin with oh so many years ago.  So we always begin each new year with Julia's Formage Souffle.

Our theme for the brunch was food as good luck symbols for the new year.  We had a pulled pork with chipotle apple butter panini, cheesy polenta topped with collard greens and lentils, oyster hush puppies, and finished with eating 12 grapes and molten chocolate cakes.

I transitioned the house from being peppered with holiday cheer, to warmed with winter white candlelight.  The trees are down, and only a few snowmen and white glittered pine cones sparkle in the flickering light.  There is a clean simplicity that happens when you transition into the new year, one that has many blank pages to be colored on and written in.   For me, home is comfort.  It is filled with food and laughter and always has family, of all stripes, at its center.

New Digs

We are fortunate enough to be traveling this long holiday weekend and spending some quality time with our dear friends who moved this summer.  As we get acquainted with their new digs, it is a time of laughter and catching up, and the kind of comfort that comes from friends who are your family.

It is also a time of reminiscences, as we think back on our tastebuds.  The only thing missing is that we aren't all together, though I suspect before too long we will and oh what a party that will be!

*group photo shot by Images by Camela

#100HappyDays :: Day 63

One of my favorite things to make is risotto.  It is such an easy dish, yet can be filled with many flavors and has a richness that defines comfort food.  After such a busy weekend, I wanted to hunker down in the kitchen and enjoy making a meal that required a slow almost meditative stirring to incorporate the ingredients.  With our beets coming in nicely, I have been craving the flavor of the Borscht that we made for Tastebuds last winter.   While my kids enjoy eating out of the garden, and love beets, neither of them like risotto!  I know, hard to believe, I guess they just do not dig the texture of it.  So this meal ended up being for mom and dad, while the kids ate salads, homemade apple sauce and leftover brats from the 4th.

Roasted Beet and Garlic Scape Risotto

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 onion, minced

2 ribs celery, minced

2 garlic scapes, diced

1 1/3 C arborio rice

1 C red wine

5 C beef broth

1/2 lb beets, roasted, peeled and grated

2/3 C Parmesan cheese, grated

2 Tbsp. butter

chopped dill, for garnish

sour cream

In a large skillet or pot over medium heat pour in olive oil.  While that is warming in a separate pot bring the beef broth to a simmer.  Add onion and celery to olive oil and cook until soft, then add the garlic scapes and sauté until fragrant.  Stir in the arborio rice until it has absorbed all of the oil.  Then pour in the red wine and stir until absorbed.  Now, one ladle full at a time, stir in the beef broth until each portion has absorbed, about 10 minutes.  Once the last of the broth has absorbed stir in the grated beets until warmed through and then remove from heat and add in the Parmesan and butter.  Once incorporated, serve with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of dill.  Enjoy!

#100HappyDays :: Day 11

Six years ago our dinner club the tastebuds was born.  It has been a forum for friendship, laughter, cooking, and amazing food and drink.  Our kids have grown up with the tastebuds and look forward to it each month as much as we do.  Yesterday's happy spot was a bitter sweet one, as this group is our family away from home and one of the families is moving away this summer.

Of course among all of the revelry I took more photos of the food than the people, but a photographer friend of ours came over and took a commemorative family portrait of us all.  Our theme was Steven Raichlen BBQ and as has become our experience, the food we cooked as a team was out of the park.  A toast to the best of food and friends, distance will not change that, just allow for field trips! ;)

Cooking Inspirations

What are your top cooking resources?  Epicurious is running a search right now for the top ten cookbook recipes of all time.  I am a sucker for cookbooks, cooking centric blogs, food television and I love the flipboard recipe e-zine.  Since the tastebuds began by picking a chef to emulate each month, and then grew into kicking up regional and themed cuisines as well, I thought it would be fun to look back at what cookbooks I reach for over and over.  My favorites ebb and flow as I discover new books.  A few staples are:

Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child  (of course!)

Fields of Greens, Annie Somerville

The Art of Simple Food, Alice Waters

The Barefoot Contessa

Jamie at Home, Jaimie Oliver

Culinary Concertos, Long Beach Symphony Association (comfort food recipes that I grew up with)

Where do you draw cooking inspiration?  What are your tried and true cookbooks or resources??

Rituals

Another year has flown by and it was a good one.  As the dawn broke over 2015, I found myself with a few quiet moments to ease into the day and reflect on the coming year.  Elizabeth Gilbert posted on her Facebook page about New Years rituals.  Like her, the New Years Eve thing, though fun when we have done it, has never really been our main focus.  Over 20 years ago, B and I began to research different traditional foods and rituals from various cultures and the meanings behind them.  We experimented with many of them looking for the perfect fit.  Ms. Gilbert listed several ritualistic things that she has done with her family on January first.  That day when everything is new, a clean slate to begin again.  These ranged from creating intentions for the year ahead to writing down something from the previous year that you were going to let go of.

About five years ago we began hosting a New Years Day brunch for our Tastebuds group.  I realized this morning, as I pondered different ideas to incorporate into this years brunch, that this is our ritual.  Our nearest and dearest come together to break bread that we prepare as a group. We laugh, cook, drink, moderate squabbles among our ever growing and changing children, and this year we all, children and adults alike, assembled Lego Minifigs at the supper table.

In years past I have picked a word, a mantra so to speak to guide the year.  This year I do not think that I will be choosing a word to guide the whole year, more something to just to get me started down the path and help me remember priorities that may have gotten a bit blurred over time.  Refocus.

A Happiest of 2015 to you all!

The Tastebuds Do The Seven Deadly Sins

Last night we celebrated this months theme; the seven deadly sins.  The seven deadly sins have roots going back centuries.  They have been inspiration for art, poetry and epic narratives.  They hearken back to the beginnings of Christianity and the deeds are described as the root of all sins.  So after hearing about a similar party across the ocean (thanks Julie!), we decided to let those sins be our dinner club muse.

The stage was set beautifully and also represented the sins in a spring-like way, since we are all aching for color (I suppose that sentiment alone could be envy, huh?)  The thoughtful centerpiece was comprised of gold for greed, dark orange for pride, blue for lust, red for wrath, orange for gluttony and light blue for sloth.  A perfect stage laid, without further ado, the seven deadly sins as prepared by the tastebuds:

Wrath

Spicy Bloody Mary's

Lust

Candied Maple Crusted Bacon Wrapped Asparagus Spears

Envy

Bitter Greens in Endive Boats Tossed in a Maple Dijon Dressing

Sloth

Slow Roast Hickory Smoked Brisket

Greed

Fried Curried Sweet Potato Balls

Pride

Spinach and Feta Pie

Gluttony

Sticky Toffee Date Cake with Bourbon Glaze

Redemption

Finally we topped off with a digestif  

a little lead in to our next meeting on Holy Saturday, a perfect contrast to our sins.

An Olympic Style Weekend

What better way to spend the weekend than teaching the kids new things followed by an amazing Tastebuds event??  Though I only had my iphone for our trip, when we drove up at home, my replacement lens was waiting on the porch, perfect timing for capturing food and friends.

B and I always love to watch the Olympics, and the kids have been only luke warm to the idea.  This weekend, as timing turned out, was a perfect start for the winter Olympics in our household.  We took a short trip to a local ski area and water park for a little family time.   Please understand, we live in Wisconsin, so the vertical feet at this ski area was 290 feet.  It was perfect though for teaching the kids and allowing mom to get her ski legs back.  B is a cracker jack skier.  I have skied half a dozen times, each separated by many years, so I always approach it more cautiously.  Charles it seems is much like his dad.  Once his lesson was complete, he headed to the lift with B and parallel skied all the way down, first time, no falling.  "It's fast and feels dangerous, what more could a boy ask for?"  Sid, a bit more like her mom, approached it more carefully but loved it and even has the story of spectacularly taking out her mom from behind on one of her runs!  ouch! ;)  Now, both kids are drawn to watching the downhill events on the Olympics having gained a new appreciation and interest.

After a lovely two nights, we headed home to prepare for our Tastebuds dinner group, this month's theme was Russian. We have found it remarkable that over the last five years there have been very few dishes that did not meet expectation, and I have wondered if that  great fortune has somewhat been the result of the method; cooking food with friends.  I do not know if it was the glow coming off of a great weekend, or again just the perfect timing, but the Russian meal took all of us by surprise.  It was amazing! 

One of the best parts of this group is how fluidly we work together.  Each couple may come with dishes that they are responsible for, but everyone dives in and helps wherever needed.  This is a seamless shuffle, where we just fall into place and work side by side.  Not pictured, are the Moscow Mules, that quenched our thirst throughout.  We did not do an appetizer, rather served all of the food at once so that we could experience how it would work together.  So drum roll please......Our line up was:

 Borscht (Beet Stew)

Pkhali (Spinach Walnut Salad)

Pickled Tomatoes & Peppers

Rye Piroshki (Rye bread stuffed with cheese and caramelized onions)

 

Syrniki (Farmers Cheese Pancakes)

 

 Shashlik (Lamb Kebob with Tomato-Prune Sauce)

Apple Sharlotka

We were amazed at how beautifully the blend of flavors complimented the meal.  It was another Tastebuds event hit out of the park.  There will definitely be repeat offenders on this meal!

Tastebuds Junior

Yesterday afternoon was our first tastebuds dinner club of the year.  We are beginning our fifth year of adventures in food and friendship and we have lots of plans going forward.  For starters as the kids are getting older, several of them are interested in participating in the food decisions and preparation.  Since we need to plan out the logistics of two sets of cooking, we had a couple of the oldest kids get a taste of it by preparing their dessert.

Sidney and Sam agreed on brownies as the dessert but Sid did not want to use my trusted recipe.  Instead, she went on to pinterest to find the most chocolatey one that she could.  We started about an hour early so the kids could get their cooking done first.  Sidney's only concern about cooking with the kids as a group was that all of them must wash their hands.  As you can see, she enforced that with her brother when he decided to join in.

 I asked if they wanted help, but they thought they could manage without me..sniff, sniff.  As I took pictures, I did interject a few tips that were taken without preteen eye-rolling in good spirit.

They ended up not only with brownies, but a grenache topping that was to die for. A beautiful first attempt, and a great precedent for moving forward into a new era, creating the next generation of tastebuds.  What a pleasure for us parents who so love the art of slow food to have our kids wanting to be part of it!

As for the adults, we chose Alice Waters as our chef inspiration.  Her food was delightfully clean and the recipes simple using few ingredients but exacting the most flavor from them.   As always, we began our new year with Julia's cheese souffle because after all it was she who began this journey for us.

Random 5 Friday

1.  Grey & Gold::  After months and months of very little rain to speak of, every storm coming through seeming just to skirt around our community, we had two days of grey drizzly weather.  No real volumes to speak of, but a steady drizzle that left wet heavy leaves dripping and falling.  Last night, the sun broke through the clouds just prior to sunset to give us the most dramatic light.  Perfect for taking our evening walk and planning the next steps to our fall finishing in the garden.

2.  Dehydrating::  Maybe it was all of the rain this week, but I have been on a huge dehydrating kick, as I mentioned here.  This morning I put the last of  ripe hillbilly tomatoes in.

3.  Tastebuds::  One of my nearest and dearest friends and member of our close knit tastebuds dinner club had her baby yesterday.  We are all so excited!  Maybe it is because my babies are tweens/ almost teens now, or because this group of people is our family here with ours being so far away, but it has been especially exciting waiting for this baby to come into the fold.    Welcome Charlotte Quinn and a heartfelt congratulations Daniela and Scott!! xo

4.  Sickies::  It has been one of those weeks.  Charles came home from school Monday not feeling well, a cold, no biggie, but the bigger concern the sharp right side abdominal pain and low grade fever.  The kid never complains about anything and this was a big deal for him.  By Wednesday things were subsiding, though we are still watching him closely as he had the low grade fever again last night.  This morning Sidney seems to be falling with the cold.  It has been a horrible allergy season here, yet I am afraid that what I had hoped were continued allergies for myself may be something else.  Between that and the fact that I am care-giving sickies, I am afraid that I won't be able to visit dearest Charlotte in the hospital as not to expose her to anything...this makes me very sad  :(

5.   Farm Chores::  Last Sunday after soccer we brought out the cover for the cold frame, reinforced it and reinstalled it over our budding greens.  Just in time it seems as we had our first light frost in the forecast for that night.  We are hoping for a break in the drizzly weather so things can dry out some and we can get outside and do some more winter prep this weekend.

Happy Friday!

                                                                    Linking up with:

 

Random 5 Friday

1.  Good Eats:  We jumped into Fall with both feet on Sunday.  We started our week on the equinox itself with our dinner club (The Tastebuds).  This was a most auspicious, beginning of our week with a kicked up picnic theme  full of gourmet treats and the dearest of friends.

2.   New Venture?  We are hosting our first wedding on the farm tomorrow!  Yesterday was filled with deliveries and set-up with the bride and groom.  The weather looks like it is going to be perfect; a warm fall day and crisp fall evening lit by floating mason jar lights.

3.  Truckin:  Between school, and soccer and volleyball practice, I've driven over 250 miles this week.  I know this may not sound too bad, but we do not live in that big of a town (not more than about 10 miles to get from one side to the other)!  I can not wait until the kids are at the same school next year.

4.  Dunzo:  Though I do not want to rush cold weather, I am increasingly ready for a first hard frost (followed by Indian summer) :), a little allergy relief is much needed!

5.  Ready: I am ready for a relaxing fall weekend...well after the wedding :)  Wishing the same for you!

Linking up with:

 

Physiology of Taste and Tastebuds

As I mentioned here, I am a student again.  Our first mini assignment was to skim The Physiology of Taste and pick a bit that speaks to our humor and post a brief reflection of it in a 'status' format.  I find myself captivated by this book written 200 years ago.  So much of what is discussed through anecdote or observation holds true today.

There are many areas in what I have read so far that could be expanded upon, but I came across a translation on gastronomical tests, and thought of our little dinner club...the Tastebuds.  We meet monthly choosing a theme or chef, then spend hours cooking together and enjoy a beautiful meal at the end...evenings full of friendship and family.  We critique each dish and in our opinion, there have been very few failures.  I  must say that we have become quite the food snobs through this process.  We have found that we are hard pressed to find food that we enjoy more.  Is it the taste, the companionship, or both?  I think, perhaps both, and a mutual love for the rituals of food and friendship.

The quote that made me laugh out loud today was this. "Whenever a dish of distinguished and good flavor is served, the guests should be attentively watched, and those, the faces of whom do not express pleasure, should be marked as unworthy."

The passage goes on to describe different levels to the 'tests' that can accommodate those coming from all levels of experience.  I am eager to move through this course discovering new perspectives and reflecting upon what food culture means to me and what my hopes are for both my family and our community as reflected in the food we prepare and eat.

Farm to Table

When we were in California the beginning of July, B and I had several opportunities to treat ourselves to nice meals out.  For starters, we eat predominantly seafood when we are in California, we can't seem to get enough of it.  At the first meal that we went out to on a 'date night' we were disappointed that the food was just so-so.  We critiqued discussed the experience as we were eating and began to realize that either our expectations were way to high, or we had just gotten to the point that with the love and effort we put into our cooking and the enjoyment we get form our 'tastebuds' dinner club, we can do it, and better.  I know this sounds horribly conceited, but maybe our tastes are just more towards the slow food we cook than what was laid in front of us. 

This experience and a bottle of wine later, we began to talk about how fun it would be to do a farm to table dinner a couple of times a summer (best after fair week) for maybe 6-8 people at the homestead.  This idea was blossoming in the back of our mind during the rest of the trip.  While we were tossing the idea around, I mentioned it to a good friend and fellow tastebud.  She was super excited and a couple of days later I got a text from her about a small catering job that she couldn't do and would I be interested in picking it up.  Leave it to dear friends to give you that little push off of the cliff you find yourself on the edge of! :) 

This morning I completed 80 tea sandwiches for a wedding shower.  The ideas for them flooded to me easy enough and I just made sure to get all of  my prep work done in advance so that this morning was all assembly.  I was nervous about the sandwiches because if they sit too long they can tend to get soggy.  I took some precautions against this making sure to coat the inner bread with a portion of ingredients that would help stave off dreaded sogginess.  What I ended up with was three creations in a farm to table theme:  A tarragon poached chicken with blackberry aioli and arugula micro-greens, a play on a farm caprese salad; hazelnut pesto with buffalo mozzarella and cherry tomatoes in a balsamic reduction, and finally a farm fresh egg salad with green tomato relish.  I was excited about how it turned out and hope that it is a taste of a farm to table segment at the homestead.  Thanks D!