13 Days, and a great visit from great friends!

Today was a really great day.  Our dear friends, Chelsea and Dave came to visit from Vermont.  We had a wonderful afternoon, and were very blessed when they cooked us two meals for the week.  Chelsea seemed so astonished at how much smaller Palesa looks in person than in the photos.  So, we took this picture to give a sense of scale.  I guess you could say she is still pretty tiny.  

Daddy likes to blow kisses on her.  We were actually trying to keep her awake, with the grand idea that if she stays awake in the evening, she'll sleep during the night.  Unfortunately, we were far from successful, and Palesa and I were both up since 4:30 am.

Chelsea, Amy, and Palesa

Little Palesa

A delicious feast

After a delay due to the storm in New York City, Grandma and Grandpa May finally arrived.  Grandma D and I hung out while Grandpa Abe and Osei went to Legal Seafoods and Trader Joe's to pick up some fresh lobster, salmon, halibut, and flowers.  I took a much needed nap while they cooked dinner.  

Osei made fresh naan bread, wild rice, sauteed broccoli, zuchini, and onions, a delicious Moroccan fish salsa (called charmoula), fish for Grandpa and fresh lobsters for the rest of us.

The proud grandparents

A celebratory dinner or the new parents too.  For dessert, we had sour cream apple pie, brought directly from the Little Pie Company in New York City.  Palesa, our guest of honor, slept the entire time.

27.5 weeks- this pointy belly could poke your eye out!

Hello all,

It is now 4:30 in the morning, and I figured now is as good as any time to send this email out! Last night we had a delicious and filling meal of orzo, swiss chard from our neighbors garden with onion, and Korean bbq chicken, deliciously prepared by my adoring and talented husband, Chef Osei. For dessert, we then ate homemade ice cream (vanilla with chocolate chip, toffee, and walnut) that we created in an ice-cream maker we're currently "babysitting" while a dear friend of ours is out of town. Despite all of that, I woke up in the middle of the night absolutely famished and had to get a snack. In fact, given the way my mouth is still watering as I'm thinking about last night's dinner, it might be time for round two of the middle-of-the night snack!

Actually, hunger right now doesn't seem the least bit surprising, because Omee has been growing so much this week that I can actually see the difference in my belly! Plus, all week, I experienced lovely stretching and ligament pain from my belly getting bigger. Indeed it is, and is getting nice and pointy too!

This past weekend Osei and I started construction of our co-sleeper, which is a 3-sided bassinet that will attach to our bed. Right now we just need to put on the legs, make the mattress, adjust the height of the mattress, and attach it to our bed. We'll make the mattress out of felted wool sewn together (which is both water and fire resistant). The co-sleeper is very big, but Osei and I wanted to make it tall enough that the baby could potentially sleep there for as long as we didn't mind the company, without the risk of falling out over the sides! We'll send pictures soon, but probably not until it is finished.

This week starts the 3rd trimester! Things are starting to feel more and more real, but we also feel like we still have a lot to do to get ready for this little baby! This coming weekend Osei and I will be going to Canada, just outside of Montreal, for a romantic 3-day weekend to ourselves. It will be nice to have no agenda to accomplish other than time with each other!
Love and hugs to all,

Amy, Osei, and Omee

Banana bread that would make even Mark Bittman a little jealous

For Christmas, Osei got me a super nice mixer.  It is like the Lexus of standing mixers.  So, of course, we've been baking lately.  Osei has made 2 batches of banana bread with walnuts and chocolate chips so far.  We're in the midst of some playful banter, and unfortunately, Osei did not take my suggestion to use Mark Bittman's recipe and instead went with Joy of Cooking.  He did, however, use two very "a la Bittman" tweaks, including substituting whole wheat flour, and then the next day, toasting the bread and serving it to his wife (me!) for breakfast.

But this weekend we had banana bread that just blew us out of the water.  Actually, it blew our banana bread out of the water.  The amazing taste blew our minds, but I digress.  Our measly banana-flavored concoction suddenly appeared unsophisticated and frumpy, the way a community college dropout must feel when thrust into an intellectual conversation with Harvard PH.D's.  In the wrong league.

We were at a party celebrating the birthday of our friend, Myra, when in waltzed one of her roommates with a lit birthday cake.  Our hostess blew out the candles and eagerly passed around thick slices of the banana bread, warm chocolate chips oozing.  I got a slightly bigger piece, and Osei informed me he'd be happy to trade pieces with me, in case it was too much for me to handle.  Yeah, right.  Three of us, previously conversing (before the most amazing banana bread ever tasted), loaded up our first fork-full without hesitation.

The room went silent.  Slowly, the daze of stars circling our heads faded, and our vision shifted back into focus.  Our conversation buddy, Simon, remarked that he didn't think he could restrain himself from eating the entire loaf if he didn't physically remove himself from the room.  Osei whimpered slightly, overcome by the surprise burst of cinnamon-sugar topping coating the thick crust.  Bits of chocolate chips and flecks of bread coated his lips as the silky soft bread melted in his mouth. 

I pretended to kiss my husband.  Yes, I love him and can hardly keep my hands off of him, but this time an unusually large chunk of banana bread just sat there, abandoned, on his lower lip.  I kissed my husband so that I could eat a crumb off of his lip. 

I foolishly bated, "Something this good could only be Mark Bittman, agreed?"  Truly, I enjoyed the banana bread we made ourselves.  But this was comparing Jupiter to Mercury.  Practically a galaxy apart.  Even I knew the futility of my weak attempt to score a point for Mark Bittman and resolve our Joy vs Bittman debate once and for all..

Simon, unaware he'd inadvertently engaged in a marital showdown, gently reminded me that there was nothing Minimalist about this banana goodness.  We all agreed it could only be a Grandmother's recipe. 

Word quickly spread around the party that this was no ordinary banana bread.  Probably the best thing any of us had ever tasted.  Myra paused the ipod, interrupting Rihnna's "What's My Name," to give credit where credit is due.  Her roommate, Sam Schwartz, humbly smiled when the entire party acknowledged her amazing baking with rounds of applause and cheers.  No exaggeration either.  I've never before in my life had the urge to clap for banana bread.

Obviously, at this point, I had to speak to Sam herself.  I quickly got over being wrong for even suggesting that Bittman's recipe could rival this baby.  I had to find Sam and know more.  Indeed, this recipe had been passed down to her from her grandmother.  Sam showed me the original hand scripted notebook, and kindly allowed me to copy down the recipe. 

My life changed a little bit this weekend.  I arrived at Myra's house in a relatively ignorant state of Pre-Banana-Bread status quo, and both Osei and I returned home changed people.  Trying to re-create Sam's banana bread at home will be a tall order.  There appear to be small subtleties in technique, and I can't help but think that maybe Ghirardelli chocolate chips are truly qualitatively superior to Stop-and-Shop brand.  Maybe we need to wait until the bananas turn completely brown with ripeness.  And our healthy whole wheat flour?  I think we have enough compelling evidence to at least try it with white flour. 

Fortunately, we have an excellent mixer.  As far as settling our claims between Mark Bittman and Joy of Cooking, Sam's banana bread resolved nothing.  The marital debate continues, but Osei and I are both winners on this one.

Mark Bittman, Don't leave me!

I just read today in the New York Times that my favorite columnist, Mark Bittman, is ending The Minimalist. I'm not saying this in a way to make my husband jealous, but I love Mark Bittman. I've written about him here and here and his "How to Cook Everything" cookbook is my go-to cooking resource. I also have my own binder of recipes, which is bursting full of The Minimalist columns and recipes I've printed and collected over the years. Click here for a list of 25 of Mark's favorite columns

Here are a few quotes that jumped out at me as Mark discusses the end of his Minimalist column.

"The column’s goal, my job, has been to help make home cooking more accessible." I agree that he has done his job well. Mark Bittman, I will miss your clever and simple cooking ideas.

"One goal has always been to demonstrate that few recipes are dogma; they can all be tweaked. And learning to tweak is part of becoming a cook." Mark, this is why I love your style. I hate following recipes, because they feel so rigid. I love the way you always encourage me to be creative and use the ingredients I like and already have.

"I refused to buy into the notion that there was a “correct” way to prepare a given dish; rather, I tried to understand its spirit and duplicate that, no matter where I was cooking." All I can say here is Yes!

On the plus side, Mark Bittman isn't leaving the New York Times entirely. He's going to be writing a new weekly column on the politics of food, (another topic very dear to my heart). For all those who had no idea food, farming, and healthy eating was so political, I highly recommend Michael Pollen's book, In Defense of Food.

Mark Bittman, I will miss your weekly column, but I am glad it is not over between us.  I still have 13 years worth of archived columns to get through, and I'll always be a devoted follower of your cookbook.  I wish you the very best. 

Mark, we raise our batter bowls and measuring cups to you.

How to Cook Everything with Joy

Osei and I are engaged in a loving debate about the best cookbook. Personally, I am a devoted follower of Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. After all, it teaches us how to cook EVERYTHING. It is simple, direct, and always uses the ingredients that I already have in my kitchen. Plus, Mark writes like he's talking to me personally. We practically converse in my kitchen as he sits on the stool, instructing me how to bake, for example, Bread Pudding.

I ask him, "Mark, do I need to cut the bread," and he just seems to read my mind, replying, "You can cut or tear the bread, but cut off the crusts if they are too thick." Thanks, Mark. Do I feel guilty substituting multi-grain oat bread for white bread? Absolutely not! After all, that is what Mark would do- he is always fully encouraging of me making healthy substitutions. And he even gently suggests ways to embellish my recipe- I can throw in some chocolate chips, raisins, chopped walnuts, orange zest, and the list goes on.

Most of all, I have so much respect for Mark because he knows that I can cook delicious and healthy foods best when I can cook simply. None of his recipes require an extra trip to the store for some obscure but necessary ingredient, like "3 pinches of saffron from the southern region of the Philippines." No offense here to Julia Childs, who is the notorious Queen of using intimidating and labor-intensive cooking ingredients and instructions. Julia and I both went to Smith College, so she obviously holds a dear place in my heart, though her style feels completely inaccessible to the everyday woman (i.e. someone like me who neither buys ducks, keeps cream and creme fraiche in the house, nor has a desire to de-marrow a bone).



Simple Recipes for Great Food. I couldn't put it any better myself. Though I generally attempt to refrain from circular references during debates with my husband, the New York Times even refers to How to Cook Everything as "A more hip Joy of Cooking." Also, check out the two little stickers on the cover. Winner. There you go. Bittman takes the cake.



My husband Osei, on the other hand, prefers the Joy of Cooking. Meh. We flipped through it this morning to see a small illustration of how to peel and cut a pineapple while leaving the pineapple chunks attached to the core. Fancy schmancy, but who actually carves a pineapple but leaves it all connected like that? Do you really think you're going to be able to rip your little chunk of fresh pineapple off of that core with just a toothpick?

Plus, Joy of Cooking is a little outdated, in my opinion. My grandmother was a talented cook and all, but still, I can't help but think that Bittman's How to Cook Everything is a much more relevant resource for us "hipster cooks" today. Let's leave Joy of Cooking for those who want to make fancy centerpieces out of pineapples.

One more reason I'm a true supporter of my friend, Mark is that he cooks things that Osei and I actually eat! For example, check out Mark Bittman's "The Minimalist" coulmn in the New York Times. It is all about making whole grain pancakes. We love whole grain pancakes. In fact, Osei is probably the lead experimenter in our weekend pancake adventures. He's played with whole wheat flour, buckwheat, oats, carrots, nuts, raisins, and banannas, so far.




Don't these pancakes look delicious? Mark Bittman is just like us. He likes whole grain pancakes, and all the variations you can imagine, just like Osei and I do. In case my husband is still not convinced that How to Cook Everything is our go-to cookbook, perhaps I can sway his mind this weekend when Mark and I bake some oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cranberry-walnut cookies.

Getting ready for football season!

Actually, I made these this year for a Superbowl party. They're super easy. Cookies were store bought, and I made white icing for the piping. It took a while to get the icing thick enough to where it didn't drip though. I think I squeezed it out of a regular zip-lock baggie. On a scale of 1-10, it was about a 7 on the messiness factor though.

Vanilla cupcakes. These also came from a box. In retrospect, it helps to not overfill the tins, because you want the top to remain flush after baked to support the "football."

Finally, I adhered the cookies football tops to the cupcakes with more frosting-glue. Once it dried, they stuck like rocks. These were a huge hit!

Yes, it was as delicious as it looked

I love cooking dates with my husband. Tonight we sipped wine while cooking up this delicious summer feast before a few games of gin rummy (let's just say I had an endless flow of good cards, though one of my wins was a technicality, but our card games are another story). Anyway, the wine was an organic Semillon from Yorkville Cellars in the Mendocino County highlands, a delicious wedding gift from a dear college friend, Naomi. We'll have to pay her a visit out west sometime soon!

Salad was spinach, corn, celery, orange bell peppers, almond slices, and golden raisins. In retrospect, I would have added at least half a pint of blueberries. This week at our Friday-and-Saturday-only produce market here in Boston, called Haymarket, I snagged four pints of blueberries for $5. Except they call them "Blubes." Trust me, Blubes truly do taste better than Blueberries. Anyway, there you go, blubes to be added to the remaining salad.

Our second salad was two sliced tomatoes, courtesy of our next-door neighbors and their vegetable garden layered and stacked with fresh basil, and a light drizzle of olive oil and a few shakes of crushed sea salt. We live on a very impressive block as far as back-yard veggie gardens... quite the peer pressure standard to live up to! Next year at this time we expect to be eating our own fresh-picked produce, but for the moment we're simply picking the brains of our green-thumbed neighbors and gladly welcoming the sample delights they share with us.

And now this baby... mmmmm mmmm mmmm! We like to keep this whole wheat pizza dough from Trader Joe's on hand in the freezer, which we defrosted for a few hours in the fridge, and then at room temperature for the rest of the afternoon.

We sliced an organic onion (thanks again, Haymarket) and slowly cooked on super low heat with a splash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, a few shakes of brown cane sugar, and about 2 branches of fresh rosemary until the onions caramelized and turned transparent.

We started with normal red pizza sauce (Trader Joe's!), a layer of basil, and then a blend of shredded cheeses. Don't ask me which blend though. Next, we added seven sliced figs, one sliced avocado, and a small head of broccoli. My hubby added sliced green olives with pimento to half of the pizza. I love olive oil, but plain olives... um, not a fan! Anyway, we cooked about 9 minutes at 425 and then proceeded to enjoy the most delicious summer meal.

Once again, I absolutely adore cooking dates with my groom. We both tend to become super creative in the kitchen, and it is so romantic and satisfying to together create a tasty (and colorful) meal that nourishes us both.

Anyway, it's finally a decent enough hour (woke up ridiculously early this morning) to justify a slice of leftover pizza for breakfast...

This is how you chop onions

She is a genius

Note the rubber gloves too... hand and eye protection

Let's cook breakfast!

Our cottage in Vermont had an amazing gourmet kitchen.  

We had our own gourmet chef.

I got to be the sous chef!

The finished Cupcakes

The pink frosting kept oozing out of the top of the bag.  My hands were covered.  Total mess.  

The yellow bag sort of burst mid-swirl (with the tiny 6-point start).  Luckily the blob of frosting plopped down on the cutting board.  We quickly moved to Plan-B, a lovely yellow glob in the center of each cupcake.  The pink decorating looked the best... the green didn't seem to set very well.

But all in all, they definitely look both homemade and edible.  I baked them for a birthday party Serge and I are going to tomorrow evening.  

Icing on the cake

 This is the recipe for Magnolia's buttercream frosting, and wow is it sweet.  I actually had to run back to the grocery store to get another box of powdered sugar.   

I think I got a sugar contact high just mixing the 6 cups (that is nearly 2 full boxes) of powdered sugar.  

The easy part was mixing.  Just slightly more challenging was deciding which 3 color combinations to make based on the options on the back of the food coloring box.  All three colors were adapted anyway.  

I started by spreading a layer of icing on each cupcake.  Then onto the fun part- the decorating. Inspired by my new Martha Stewart icing set, I filled bag one with pink frosting and the leaf-tip fixture, envisioning delicate daisies and intricate designs.  The frosting oozed out the top of the bag.  For the yellow and teal, I sliced off a corner of a zip-lock instead, put the tip in the bag, and spooned in the frosting.

The results were not exactly Martha-Stewart pretty.  

Cupcakes a' bakin'

Vanilla cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery cookbook.  I found the recipe on the internet and even bought self-risking flower.  The batter is full of all sorts of healthy things, like organic butter and eggs, and sugar.

However, I make them the old fashioned way...mixing everything by hand.  This makes the finished cupcakes exponentially more healthy (for me, at least) once you factor in the manuel labor.  My arms are both sore.

I kind of made a mess, but I love how this picture shows my ipod speakers where I listen and repeat Russian vocabulary, my CFA calculator, and a running log/my water bottles.  My entire life is basically represented in my kitchen mess.

I would like to brag that I had zero spillage when pouring the batter.  Must of have been the perfect consistency. 

They looked nice when I took them out of the oven, which I'm still not convinced cooks evenly.  Note the guy in the back row got a little squished when I banged him on the top of the oven rack.  I burned my hand a little too, but those were our only causalities from the baking part of the adventure.

Mark Bittman, you make me wanna cook!

I love Mark Bittman's New York Times cooking column, The Minimalist.  I bought this cookbook last year after basically flipping a coin between this and Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  Julia, after all, went to Smith too, and well, it is Julia Childs!  However, I am confident I made the right choice... I guess you could say Mark Bittman is just a little more... user friendly.  

And more snow in New York

More snow outside

Inside a hot breakfast with fresh blueberries, tea, and an omlette-concoction from the best chef in Brooklyn

Date-night details

Hasselback potatoes.  I like them because they look so cool.  

London broil marinated in Red Wine and onions, and baked at 425 deg for about 20-30 minutes.

The finished hasselback potatoes with parmesan and bread crumbs.  Also not shown is broccoli sauteed with garlic and sliced almonds.  Delicious!

From Russia with Love

Serge got back this week from Russia... 

Date night was cooking dinner together and then to a movie

 

He brought me back a beautiful tray from Moscow in a traditional Russian style.  I love the colors!!!  Note how well it goes with the vase he got me for Christmas.

I already had the Nesting Dolls, but Serge thought they all needed some fresh air.  Look at how tiny the littlest one is- probably half the size of a baby tooth.

Caramelized Onion and Fig Pizza

I adapted this recipe from Deena Kastor's recipe featured in Runner's World.  For those who don't know of Deena Kastor, she is the American marathon record holder and Athens Bronze medalist.  

Check out my impeccable logic here:  Deena Kastor is a fast runner.  Deena Kastor eats a variation of this pizza recipe.  Eating this pizza will make you a fast runner.  

Ingredients:

• Pizza dough (Note I do not recommend gluten free)
  
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
  
• 2 yellow onions, sliced
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
  
• 1 tsp brown sugar
  
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
  
• Handful fresh basil
  
• Handful sliced mushrooms
  
• 6 dried Turkish figs, sliced
  
• 4 oz. feta cheese
  

Directions

• Heat oil and saute onion until soft and transparent. Then turn down heat very low and stir until onions are deep brown (this can take almost an hour)
•  Add salt, brown sugar and vinegar, and cook an additional 10 minutes or so
• After doctoring up the onions, preheat oven to 450 degrees and roll out pizza dough to fit baking pan
• Spread onion mixture over dough, leaving edge for crust
• Top with basil, mushrooms, sliced figs, and crumbled feta
• Drizzle a little balsamic vinegar over the top
• Bake 15-20 minutes until crust is golden brown