Chefdruck Musings

The Pressure is Lifted from the Perfect Holiday Shot

2009-12-16T09:30:00.002-05:00

Designing holiday cards is a stressful process. Beginning December 1, I dread going to the mailbox and finding it filled with the cards of organized, have it together moms. Everyday the guilt grows, as the time pressure of the looming end of year increases.

But here we are, officially closer to the end of December than the beginning, and I haven't begun the gathering of the addresses, or the revision of "the list."

But I have done the hard part. I have found "the picture." The one that encapsulates the spirit of the year. It used to be so stressful to find that one shot where Steve and I look youthful and glowing and where, miraculously, all of the kids are smiling and happy.

But now that cards come in so many designs, the pressure has been lifted. Holiday cards have become the slide shows of our youth. And the pressure of the selection process has been lifted.

I spent a few pleasant hours last weekend as the wind howled outside, revisiting vacations when we were tanned and rested. I could feel the sand between our toes and the kiss of the setting sun on our cheeks. It made me hunger to take next year's snapshot, preferably somewhere exotic and warm.

Happy Wordful, Wordless and Way-back wednesday!

The Pioneer Woman Cookbook Review and Giveaway

2009-12-15T14:16:00.008-05:00

I've written before about what a huge fan I am of Ree Drummond, author of the Pioneer Woman blog. I admire Ree not only for her gorgeous photography, her authentic voice, and her delicious food, but also for not letting success go to her head. Whenever I've seen her at blog conferences, she is always the most down to earth and approachable person there, completely unaffected by the millions of readers who visit her blog regularly, drinking in the pictures of her ranching life. She loves her husband, loves her kids, loves her photography, loves her cooking and she blogs about it all. She is, quite simply, someone I want to be when I grow up.

I was thrilled to receive a review copy of Ree's new cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl. Filled with beautiful pictures of life on the Drummond ranch, it reads just like Ree's blog, and it is filled with dozens of mouth watering recipes. My husband was thrilled by all my testing because Ree's food is his type of comfort food cooking: meatloaf, chicken pot pie, and braised beef brisket.

The recipes are clear and easy to follow, and wonderfully illustrated by Ree's step by step process pictures. But I found myself doing something I don't normally do when reading recipes: laughing aloud. I was highly entertained by Ree's commentary. For example, when she adds the cream to her Sherried Tomato Soup, she admonishes, "And now, people. It's time to get serious. And it's time to examine yourselves, and I mean that figuratively, for Pete's sake: when it comes to heavy cream, are you a man or a mouse? I need an answer now because we're about to add 1 1/2 cups of the stuff into our soup."

The soup is unbelievable. Creamy but also filled with so much flavor from the sherry. It's the kind of soup that makes you moan out loud, apologize, and then moan all over again. I'm reprinting the recipe here, but to really get the full effect, you have to check out the book with all the pictures. All the commentary is from the book - not me.

You could buy it for yourself and put it under the tree (it's so cheap at Amazon right now - only $11!).... or you could win a copy here. I'm giving away one copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girlfor today's giveaway. Just leave a comment here to be entered to win. And leave me additional comments for any tweets, links, or if you are a subscriber for additional chances to win. I'll select the winner, along with all the other 12 days of giveaways winners on December 25.

Sherried Tomato Soup Recipe (excerpt from the Pioneer Woman Cookbook)

Ingredients:

1 medium white or yellow onion

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) of butter

2 14.5-ounce cans of diced tomatoes

1 46-ounce bottle or can of tomato juice

3 to 6 tablespoons of sugar

1 or 2 tablespoons of chicken base or 3 chicken bouillon cubes

freshly ground black pepper

1 cup of sherry

1 1/2 cups of heavy cream

1/4 cups of chopped flat leaf parsley

1/4 cups of chopped basil

To begin with, chop the onion.
Melt the butter in a large pot or Dutch oven.
Throw in the onion and cook until translucent.
Now dump in the diced tomatoes and stir to combine.
Add the tomato juice. I usually use organic juice because I want people to think, She's cool because she uses organic.
Next - and this is important - in order to combat the acidity of the tomatoes, add 3 to 6 tablespoons sugar. Now, you'll want to start on the low side, then taste and add more as needed. Some tomatoes and juice have more of an acidic bite than others. (For what it's worth, and I realize it isn't worth much, I use 6 tablespoons of sugar. But I like a little sweetness to my tomato soup. So don't listen to me.)
Next, add 1 or 2 tablespoons of chicken base to the pot. I added 3 and it wound up being a little too much. But it's a middle child thing... I'm always adding more, more more!
Now you can add lots of freshly ground black pepper. Stir to combine, then heat almost to a boil. Then turn off the heat.
Now! Here's the nice little flavor that sets this soup apart. Add in the sherry, if desired. It'll keep you honest - I promise!
And now, people. It's time to get serious. And it's time to examine yourselves, and I mean that figuratively, for Pete's sake: when it comes to heavy cream, are you a man or a mouse? I need an answer now because we're about to add 1 1/2 cups of the stuff into our soup. And mmm... stir it together.
Now chop up a handful of flat-leaf parsley. And really, I'm not opposed to the curly parsley. And actually, blind taste tests have shown that there's really not much difference in taste. But flat-leaf is a little more texturally palatable, so if you can find it, it's best. "Texturally palatable." You know, I just throw these phrases out into the atmosphere and I have no idea where they come from. Or where they're going. Or where they've been.
Next, chop up a few leaves of fresh basil. (Well "chiffonade is the proper term... but that's way too complicated a topic to inject into this simple tomato soup.)
Now go ahead and throw in the parsley and the basil, and stir together. Next, take a whiff of this heavenly delight. Then faint. Then pick yourself up off the ground and grab your pepper mill again.
I always set it to fine for this soup, and I really let 'er loose. I love freshly ground pepper.
Keep the soup warm and serve it on a cold day to people you love. The flavor will knock your socks off.

Mexican Chocolate Yule Tide Log: my Challenge Dairy Holiday Dessert Recipe Entry

2009-12-14T22:45:00.006-05:00

I'm a butter lover. Look deep inside my fridge and you'll find nearly half a shelf devoted to butter in all shapes and sizes. There's European style butter, unsalted butter, and salted butter. There's store brand butter, local butter, and French fleur de sel butter. Each of these has a purpose, a place in my life, whether it's perfecting a piece of toast, creaming with sugar for chocolate chip cookies, or melting atop a sirloin steak. No doubt about it, I'm a butter girl, and proud of it.

So when the Challenge Dairy butter PR agency contacted me to complement me on my noodle kugel recipe and invite me to participate in holiday recipe contest using their butter, I was happy to sign on. They assigned me to the dessert category. A few weeks later, I received a nice refrigerated shipment of Challenge Dairy butter (European Style and regular unsalted), jars of Spice Islands Vanilla Extract, Cinnamon, and Nutmeg, and a few cooking utensils. And then I began brainstorming on the perfect holiday dessert recipe.

Challenge Dairy Butter is only available in the West right now, but they do have an amazing sweepstakes going on through December 31to win a trip for a family of four for 7 days and 6 nights at the Mountain Sky Guest Ranch just North of Yellowstone National State Park. Right about now a seven day vacation sounds pretty great, especially such a luxurious one worth $17,000!

In addition to being a butter lover, I'm also a master procrastinator. And so it wasn't until today, with just 10 days left to go until Christmas eve, that I got to work on my recipe. Every year, for our big Christmas eve feast, my sisters and I prepare some yule tide logs. But I didn't want to showcase just any old recipe for this challenge. I wanted something new, something a little different, something a little exotic. So I varied our traditional dessert a bit, and created this Mexican chocolate Yule Tide Log.

This is definitely an adult dessert, a symphony of dark chocolate and lightly sweetened mascarpone. The cake is a very light jelly roll (gateau roule), made light and fluffy by beaten egg whites and egg yolks. And the chocolate is a traditional ganache jazzed up with some cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg. I added a little butter to increase its shine. To keep the chocolate from being too overpowering, I paired it with a layer of mascarpone. The cake looks elegant, and even though it is intensely chocolaty, it is also light, the perfect conclusion to a big meal.

Mexican Chocolate Yule Tide Log
Ingredients: For the Jelly Roll Cake 1/4 cups of sugar 5/8 cups of flour 1 1/2 TBSPs of butter 3 egg whites 4 egg yolks 1 extra TBSP of sugar For the Fillings: 8 oz of semisweet chocolate 1 cup of heavy cream 1 TBSP of cinnamon 1 pinch of nutmeg 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract one package of 8 3/4 oz of mascarpone 1/2 cups of sugar
To make jelly roll cake:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
Melt the butter in microwave.
Beat the egg yolks and the sugar together at medium speed until creamy and pale yellow. At least 5 minutes. Stop the beaters and incorporate the flour with a spatula, mixing until just barely incorporated.
Beat the egg whites until stiff. About halfway through, throw in the extra tablespoon of sugar to help the egg whites hold their stiffness.
Simultaneously pour the egg whites and the butter on the egg yolk mixture. Mix it all together very delicately, to preserve as much of the air as possible while still incorporating everything.
Spread the batter in a large rectangle on a silpat or a sheet of wax paper atop a cookie sheet. You don't need your dough to be more than 1/2 inch thick.
Cook for 7 minutes, making sure you don't burn the cake.
Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature.

To make ganache and mascarpone fillings:

Chop up your chocolate into little chunks.
Bring the heavy cream to a boil in a medium saucepan.
Turn the heat off and pour in the chocolate, stirring until completely melted and gorgeous. Add in the butter, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Divide the ganache in half. Place half in the fridge for 5 minutes to cool and stiffen. Keep the other half in the saucepan.
Pour the mascarpone and sugar into a bowl, beat for 2-3 minutes on medium speed.
Remove the chilled half from the fridge. Beat for 3 to 5 minutes to thicken.

To assemble yule tide log:

Carefully detach the jelly roll from the silpat or wax paper.
Spread the whipped chilled ganache over the entire surface.
Cover the ganache with the sweetened mascarpone.
Carefully roll the cake up and transfer to a serving platter.
Pour the ganache still in the saucepan on top as a shiny chocolate glaze.
Cake can be served immediately, or kept chilled overnight. The ganache will set over time, especially if kept in the fridge.

Oh Christmas Tree...

2009-12-13T22:59:00.007-05:00

We had a vision about how things would go down. We would walk all in a row amidst the rows of towering pine trees, our feet softly crunching in the snow. Our breath would hang around our faces in soft white puffs. As we searched for the perfect tree, we would sing, our voices reaching towards the sky in unison. "Oh, Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree..."

It was going to be a day we remembered forever, the beginning of a new family tradition: our trip to the cut your own Christmas tree farm.

Except it didn't exactly work out that way.

For starters, there was no snow on the ground, just a hard, frozen soil. The absence of the white stuff would have been fine, if it hadn't also been freezing, bone wrenching cold that makes me shiver all over again as I write from the warmth of my couch.

Then there was the bickering over the sleds. Who would pull them, who would be first, whose turn it was, who was the most annoying brother in the world, who was the meanest big sister, poop, butt, meanie, MOMMY! Kind of put a damper on the Christmas spirit.

Once the war of the sleds was settled, we marched off to cut down our tree. And we marched, and we marched, and we marched. But the majestic evergreen we had envisioned was nowhere to be found. Instead we only found many cousins of Charlie Brown's shriveled tree, sad little pines that inspired pity.

And so, after much searching, we piled back into the car, tree-less, with an unfulfilled vision. We found our perfect tree the next day at a nearby nursery. It required no sawing, no marching, and needed no sleds to be ferried back to the car.

But by the time we hefted it inside the house, wrestled it into its stand, and positioned it in the living room, exactly how we got it became irrelevant. The tree was there, filling our home with its delicious aroma of pine and presents.

Now I really need to get going on my shopping.

BJ's Savings Solution Giveaway

2009-12-12T17:53:00.004-05:00

At the very last minute, I've decided to get into the spirit of the holidays by hosting 12 days of giveaways here and at Chefdruck Reviews. What can I say, I love playing Santa both at home and on the web! So set your bookmarks, subscribe to my feed, do whatever you need to do to get organized, but just make sure you come back every day until Christmas to get a chance to win!

My first giveaway is going to help you save a ton.

During the year, I usually don't shop at BJs for my family. I'm scared that I'll get too carried away by all that value and end up coming home with industrial quantities of chocolate chips and tea and have no place to store them. And so I continue shopping at my regular supermarket, spending way too much on shampoo, detergent, and toothpaste.

But during the holidays, all bets are off.

Because my family is spread out across North America and Europe, Christmas is not a one day affair. We come together for a week to ten days of family quality time, filled with long dinners, puzzles, and board games. It's this time every year that helps us feel connected during the other eleven months when we are separated by distance and time differences.

But feeding this ever growing troop can be a challenge. The food in my fridge and pantry just seems to disappear as soon as I bring it in. During this time of year, my regular supermarket just will not suffice. I'd have to move in there just to keep up with my family, and would not be able to afford to feed them and get gifts for Christmas morning.

I was thrilled to learn that BJs is currently offering a free 60 day trial membership. The timing couldn't be better. Just go to the link above to print out your coupon to bring into the store. You'll soon have 2 months of access to huge boxes of cookies, flour, ketchup, and meat. They also have some fantastic deals on toys and gifts.

And to make matters even better, MyBlogSpark has given me and one lucky winner a $25 BJs gift card (courtesy of BJ's Savings Club and General Mills). I plan to use mine to buy a HUGE filet mignon roast. It's making my mouth water just thinking about it.

What will you use your gift card and free membership for? Leave your answer in a comment to be entered for a chance to win. I'll select the winner on Thursday, December 24.

As usual, you can get extra chances to win by:

linking to this contest on your blog,
subscribing to my Chefdruck Musings feed
subscribing to my Chefdruck Reviews feed.
tweeting this contest.

Just remember to leave me a different comment to get credit for each extra entry.

The Piano Teacher by Janice Y. K. Lee - A Book Review

2009-12-11T18:14:00.001-05:00

The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K.Lee is one of those books that plunge the reader deep into its world, making the real world a little duller in comparison. From the first page, I was seeing, smelling and hearing 1940s and 1950s Hong Kong with its crowded markets, its elaborate parties, and its dazzling views of the emerald bay.

The novel weaves two story lines a decade apart together, one during World War II, and the other ten years later amidst the lingering after-effects of the war. The later storyline is told in the past tense, which further illustrates the powerlessness of the characters to redress the mistakes of the past. The earlier storyline is told in the present tense, heightenning the sense of excitement and danger of the Japanese occupation. Although this sounds confusing, it works well, highlighting the connection of the past to the present. Many characters are present in both storylines, most notably Will Truesdale, who we first meet in the 1940s when he arrives in Hong Kong.

In the 1940s, Will is a young and handsome Englishman, new to Hong Kong and unitiated to the rules of its complex social structure. He quickly becomes involved with Trudy, a gorgeous, rich Eurasian socialite, and falls deeply in love with her. The reader too falls under the spell of this intoxicating young woman, this "sleek greyhound among the others - plump, braying women of a certain social class." Will and Trudy are soon attending elaborate parties together every night, the "it" couple of the Hong Kong scene, making parties come alive with their presence. When the war breaks out, the two are separated due to their different nationalities, and Trudy becomes even more dangerously mysterious, jeopardizing both her fate and Will's with her actions.

The intrigue builds with every wartime chapter, and is painfully contrasted with the different mood of the 1950s chapters. There we find Will, older and limping, working as a chauffeur for people he used to socialize with. He is engaged in a love affair with a young, pale, blonde Englishwoman named Claire who has just arrived in Hong Kong with her husband. This time it is Will who is the jaded and damaged corruptor of an innocent mate.

The Piano Teacher is a captivating read, filled with scenes and characters that will remain etched in your mind long after you've put it down. It's the best time of escapist novel, one of those books that proves reading can be more exciting than going to the movies, but also so beautifully written that you'll find yourself re-reading sentences just to appreciate their elegance. Grab a copy while you're finishing up your holiday shopping. It will be just the thing to read, snuggled up under a blanket after all the presents have been opened.

Chocolate Beet Cupcakes: Hands On with Dave Lieberman

2009-12-10T11:03:00.010-05:00

Yesterday, as the temperature plummeted and the wind whipped in Columbus, I boarded a plane for New York City. My destination was a swanky culinary loft in Soho to attend a cooking demonstration with Food Network cutie David Lieberman. And to multiply the fun factor, I was bringing my baby sister as my plus 1 and meeting my NYC Moms Blog friends Jennifer Perrillo and Amy Oztan.

I basically danced with glee all the way through the Columbus Airport.

Even with the ferocious wind gusts, our plane was only delayed an hour and I arrived at the loft right on time.

The event was sponsored by Del Monte and tied in nicely with Dave Lieberman's new book The 10 Things You Need to Eat: And More Than 100 Easy and Delicious Ways to Prepare Them.

I was hanging out with the lovely Vera Sweeney and her husband, Tim, from I'm Not Obsessed, plying her with 1,001 questions about Tiger Woods, Tom Cruise, and Katie Holmes when Dave Lieberman started walking around. He was such a nice and approachable guy that I almost didn't recognize him. He came right over and chatted with us and once again, I was surprised by how down to earth TV celebrities can be.

He demonstrated four recipes, enough to make a knock out meal, and then gave us a chance to make each with him. He started with a spinach scallion dip, a chunky chipotle corn chowder, a chicken cacciatore entree, and the most interesting and most delicious of all, a beet and chocolate cupcake. As a butter and cream lover, I was highly skeptical of this beet creation, but it was moist, sweet and intensely chocolaty.

The recipe includes plenty of butter and sugar, and is by no means a diet recipe. It generates its health benefits from the inclusion of beets. I'll quote Anahad O'Connor, co-author of 10 Things You Need to Eat and a weekly column in the New York Times science section, to best illustrate its value, "Ounce for ounce, the beet boasts what may be a heftier range of nutrients - folate, potassium, iron, fiber, antioxidants, and even a little protein - than virtually any other fruit or vegetable on the planet." So eating one of these little cupcakes is a little like taking a multivitamin.

I'm including the recipe below, and off to make it myself to add pictures and validate its yumminess outside of a fancy Soho kitchen.

Beet Mash Chocolate Cupcakes with Beet Frosting

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes

1 1/2 14.5 oz can of fresh cut beets, thoroughly drained
2 sticks of unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cups of vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup of warm water
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
3/4 cups of sweetened cocoa
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the glaze

Approximately 1/2 a 14.5 oz can of beets, thoroughly drained and mashed
2 sticks of unsalted butter
1 pound of confectioner's sugar

To make the cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a small bowl, mash the drained can of beets finely with a potato masher and set aside. (You could also use a food processor)
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the melted butter, granulated sugar, oil, eggs, and water. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients until thoroughly combined. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet. Fold in the mashed beets and mix well.
Pour the batter into cupcake cups. Bake about 70 minutes, until set but moist. Let cool on cooling rack.

To make the glaze frosting:

Mash the 1/2 can of beets finely with a potato masher.
Melt 1 stick of butter in a saucepan and add the mashed beets. Simmer on very low heat for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, cream the second stick of butter with a mixer in a bowl. Mix in the melted butter and beet mixture until fully incorporated. Gradually beat in the confectioner's sugar.

Ice the cupcakes when cooled with a thick layer of glaze icing.

*A very grateful thank you to Bobby Marro Photography for these gorgeous pictures. I lugged my big camera through airport security, but forgot my memory card in Ohio.

Keeping them Believing a Little Longer

2009-12-09T10:19:00.004-05:00

Ever since I became a mom, I've been dreading the day Bella will discover that Santa is a myth. I remember how crushed I was when the magic of Christmas dissipated. The victory of finally discovering the suspected present stash was hollow when I discovered that tumbling pile of unwrapped gifts shoved into our house's crawl space. Every year as Christmas approaches, I fear that this will be the year that Bella learns that painful lesson.

But this year, I got a new ally... in the form of an elf.

Elves are all the craze in our town. Every family in Bella's school seems to have either one per household or one per child. Traditions vary, but the basic concept is that the elf does mischievous things at night and reports back to Santa on the children's behavior.

Jolly Jingler joined our family on Monday night. He's already swung from the chandelier and created a huge tower of books. Every morning the kids fly out of bed to see what hijinks he was up to as they slept. But the most touching thing for me has been to see them whisper to him their wishes and messages to Santa.

Looks like we'll be basking in the magic for a few more years at least.

Happy Wordful, Wordless and Way-back wednesday!

The Punk: Write of Passage Writing Well Challenge Week 1

2009-12-08T10:14:00.003-05:00

Today's writing well challenge on the Write of Passage group is character. Find someone, anyone, and build two paragraphs around them.

Do you ever see striking people and wonder what their story is? I love to make them up, entertaining my husband and children with them, or sometimes just recording them in my writing notebook.

This writing was inspired by an unlikely trio I stood in line next to at the Columbus airport last week.

Most people only saw his purple mohawk and the angry red pimples covering his cheeks. Then they wrote him off, tightening their grip on their purse and wallet, taking a step away to steer clear of danger. Rhonda saw it every day as she walked with him down the street, and it made her sad to have the world dismiss him so quickly, missing a chance to know such a gifted young man.

She'd seen his potential right away that day she was volunteering at the homeless shelter. She'd looked up to grab another can to stack up on the kitchen shelf and had found herself looking into his kind eyes. She'd assumed they belonged to a grown man, they were so weary, so tired, and she'd been shocked to find that they belonged to a young fifteen year old boy. She'd known right then and there, before she'd heard his sad story from the shelter manager later that morning, that they had been destined to meet that day, and that she was meant to bring him into their lives. It had taken a lot of convincing to get Jim to agree to foster a white punk teenager. He'd asked, "Are you just looking for trouble? But she had been unshakeable and because he was a good man who loved her, he'd finally given in and agreed to have the boy come live with them for a while.

Rhonda wiped an errant tear before Jim or the boy could see. Both were busy observing the planes taking off and landing. They both looked happy and relaxed with each other, laughing and joking. She couldn't believe they were here, about to board a plane to Chicago to bring the boy back to his parents, to finally set his story back on the right path.

Now it's your turn. Find a character, someone at the mall, a red light, the doctor's office, and write about them. 10 minutes. Go.

Fun for the Whole Family: Sushi Party 101

2009-12-07T10:26:00.000-05:00

I love having sushi parties. When my friend Yumi first initiated me into the secrets of sushi, I didn't believe her. I felt as though I was trespassing in a forbidden world and couldn't believe how easy it was. The wow and fun factors are high, but the effort and cost are low. All you really need, for a successful sushi party, is a high quality Japanese supermarket. The rest is easy.

As soon as we landed in Columbus, I started searching for a Japanese supermarket. I asked everyone I encountered about Asian supermarkets, and whenever I met a Japanese person, I got right down to business, asking them where they shop. The supermarket is key because it's the only place I would trust to buy sushi grade fish. Some regular supermarkets advertise sushi-quality tuna, but that makes me a little nervous. There are no standards for these things, and we all know where a bad piece of sushi can send us. So I prefer to buy my sushi fish from a Japanese supermarket, a busy one packed with customers, with gorgeous fish that looks like candy.

In New Jersey, I loved my trips to Mitsuwa, a huge Japanese supermarket in Edgewater. Here in Columbus, I discovered Tensuke Market (1167 Old Henderson Road 614.451.6002), thanks to The Restaurant Widow blog. Although Tensuke is much smaller than Mitsuwa, I found all of the ingredients I needed, including beautiful fish. As there's little I love more than stepping through the doors of a store and being transported to another continent, I'll continue exploring the other Asian markets in the area.

Other than gorgeous fish, you'll just need a few other items. You can easily walk out with all you need for a sushi feast for under $30. You'll need:

some short grain sushi rice,
a couple of packets of sushi rice seasoning to make it sticky and sweet (see above for picture),
some wasabi paste, a little pickled ginger,
and a package of seaweed sheets.

Now if you want to get a little fancier, you can also get:

A couple of bamboo mats to roll up your sushi.
Some veggies: avocado, cucumber, carrots.
Some fruits: mango, peach, and pineapple.
Fun Japanese salads like seaweed salad.
Wild Japanese desserts and candy to entertain the kids.
Sake and Japanese beer.

And as far as the fish goes, I usually go with tuna (toro and regular), salmon, yellowtail, and barbecued eel that I find in the freezer.

Once you have all your ingredients, it's time to put all of your guests to work, creating their own sushi creations. I set out to steaming bowls of sushi rice in the middle of the table, lay the fish, fruit and veggies on platters all around, and let everyone channel their own sushi chef. People can choose to make rolls with bamboo mats or plastic wrap, or stay conservative with sushi pieces of rice mounds topped with fish. At times, I have even been known to just go with sashimi and have a few bites of rice in between. Amy is pictured above. She had never tried to make sushi before, but she was turning out better looking rolls than anyone at the table within minutes.

My kids love these sushi parties. I don't really encourage them to go with the raw fish though, providing them with lots of veggies and some chicken fingers to roll up in the rice. For our last dinner, Bella stuck to her favorite, the chicken nugget roll, but her friend surprised me by making a gorgeous tuna and avocado roll.

Everyone had a blast, and everyone walked away very full.

Moving on to Planning for Career #12

2009-12-06T22:57:00.002-05:00

I've always toyed with the idea of becoming a teacher, a French teacher, with posters of baguettes and croissants on the walls of her classroom. It's one of over a dozen careers I try on for size on rainy days when the kids are playing quietly and I begin projecting out five years or even ten years down the road. On those days, the future, with my daily seven hours of freedom, doesn't seem so far away, and starts to seem terrifying.

When I daydream about being a teacher, I see two dozen rapt pairs of eyes gazing up at me, drinking in my conjugations of the passe compose of the verb manger.
J'ai mange le gateau... Tu as mange le gateau... Il a mange le gateau...
They're taking notes, nodding and smiling, and repeating carefully everything I say.

This lovely vision dissipated without trace last week when I picked up Close Encounters of the Third-Grade Kind: Thoughts on Teacherhood by Philip Done. He took me into his classroom, chapter by chapter, and, even though he told many hilarious stories about the kids in his classroom, he also showed how tough it is to be a teacher. It takes patience, passion, and persistence. Qualities I already have in short supply for my three kids, before moving on to hordes of others.

And so I kissed this possible career goodbye... and moved on to the other dozen. Librarian, Professional Traveler, Food Critic, Historical Fiction Writer, Personal Chef... just to name a few.

Close Encounters of the Third-Grade Kind is the featured book for the Silicon Valley Moms Group December book club.

Kohl's Gift Card Giveaway

2009-12-05T23:29:00.003-05:00

Have you started your holiday shopping? December snuck up on me and, as happens every year, I am completely unprepared. Not only have I done no shopping, but I haven't even begun making lists.

For giveaway today, I have a little something that might help you with your shopping. I'm giving away two $25 Kohl's gift cards (courtesy of Kohl's) to two lucky winners. They won't help you make your lists, but they will help you pay for the items on your list.

For a chance to win one of these Kohl's gift cards, leave a comment here with where you'll be doing the bulk of your shopping before Friday, December 18. I'll select the winner at midnight that night.

As usual, you can get extra chances to win by:

linking to this contest on your blog,
subscribing to my Chefdruck Musings feed
subscribing to my Chefdruck Reviews feed.
tweeting this contest.

Just remember to leave me a different comment to get credit for each extra entry.

No More Whining; I'm Embracing my Inner Hero

2009-12-04T14:43:00.008-05:00

No one likes a whiner. Whiners go on and on, focusing on the negativity in their life, and their conversation sound like the adults in Peanuts cartoons. It doesn't matter if a whiner is 5 and complaining about having nothing to do, or 35 and complaining about having no time to do anything; the end result is the same. Blah blah blah blah. Whine whine whine. Blah blah blah.

Lately I've been doing a lot of whining. I've been listening to myself bring people down with my complaints about being lonely, being tired, and struggling to adjust to the Midwest. I hear the words come out of my mouth, and I hate them as they flow. And then I whine about being a whiner.

But before this post turns into yet another whining session, let me tell you about Be the Hero,and how Noah Blumenthal's book has inspired me to put my whining aside.

I received a review of Be the Hero: Three Powerful Ways to Overcome Challenges in Work and Life months ago, but banished it to my bookshelf and left it languishing there until I had the time to review it. You could call it laziness, or you could call it fate that I finally picked it up when I really needed it.

Blumenthal's book is an easy read with a powerful message that you'll be able to implement immediately. He explains his principles through an engaging story about Jeff, a new sleep-deprived father with a tough boss and significant challenges at home and at work. Jeff bumps into an old high school friend who is now a career coach and who teaches Jeff how to become a hero in everyday life.

Being a hero is really about overcoming your urge to see and paint yourself as a victim, and putting yourself back in charge. Blumenthal refers to it as telling victim stories instead of hero stories. I don't love the word stories as it sounds a little trite, but the concept of hero vs. victim makes a lot of sense to me. I remember reading an interview with Jennifer Aniston in Vanity Fair soon after Brad left her for Angelina. She said that her therapist gave her three days to be a victim and after that it was time to take charge again. I figured that if she could do that, with papparazi stalking her every emotion, then I should be able to as well in my suburban universe.

We tell three types of victim stories:

People Stories (that guy was such a jerk to me)
Situation Stories (my life is so tough)
Self Stories (I can't do it, there are too many obstacles in my way)

Blumenthal's book provides easy, concrete examples to help you change your victim stories into hero stories using empathy to understand where the jerk is coming from in the people stories, and using appreciation of what you have for your situation stories. The part I found most impactful however, dealt with the self-stories, and how to take action to enact change in your life.

Bottom line, Blumenthal forbids the reader from whining. He puts the responsibility back on you to make changes in your daily life and how you view the world. I finished the book less than a week ago, and ever since I put it down, I find myself repeating "Be the Hero" under my breath as I go through my day.

When the Starbucks barista doesn't smile, I smile and ask her if they're very busy instead of thinking that Starbucks should hire friendlier people. When the kids trash the kitchen, dropping mozzerella cheese everywhere, I try to think about how lucky I am to have kids that are healthy and are able to drop cheese on the floor (I said TRY... but that doesn't mean I do it with a Mary Poppins Smile). And when I catch myself talking about how much I miss my friends, sister and writing group, I invite my friendly neighbor out for a cup of coffee and make time to write alone, trusting that I'll bump into a new writing buddy in an unexpected place, soon.

Be the Hero is not rocket science. It's not huge life changing theories that will make you chuck it all and move to Nepal. It's simple stuff that you can implement immediately. But it's also powerful stuff that will make a difference in your outlook right away, and will certainly stop the whining.

Star Wars in Concert: Bring on the Tears and the Magic

2009-12-03T09:57:00.006-05:00

The first time the tears took me by surprise. I was barely pregnant, lovingly caressing my budding bump, when an AT&T commercial brought tears streaming down my face. They weren't featuring images of starving infants, just a little girl, dressed up as a princess, dancing on the beach with joy after her mother decided to take the day off from work. But something in my newly maternal brain identified with the emotions and the tears came gushing out.

I rushed to the bathroom, dried my cheeks, and thanked God that I would be kissing pregnancy hormones goodbye in a few months.

But six months later, after I pushed Bella into the world, the tears remained.

They sprung, unbidden, during the moments you would expect: holiday concerts, ballet recitals, play dates, or after a sticky kiss. Those tears, usually shared with other mothers, could be wiped quickly with the sleeve of a sweater.

But then there were the other tears, the ones that marked me for a sappy sucker, that came unbidden at the worst possible times. Big moments, moving music, anything with significance make me at risk.

Last night, the tears were flowing as I walked into the Nationwide Arena for the Star Wars concert. I held Jack's little hand tightly in mine as we made our way to our seats. We were still walking when the lights dimmed and the majestic music rose up all around us, flooding us with the familiar bars. There was something so powerful about the cheers of the crowd, the communion of all those Star Wars fan coming together to celebrate the music and magic of those movies. I held Jack's hand tighter, and he looked up at me, clearly also moved as the music flooded over us, played just feet away from us by a huge symphony orchestra, creating music in perfect harmony.

For once, instead of worrying about my mommy tears, I just went with it, letting them stream down my face, sharing this magical moment with my son.

The tears came again and again last night, as the show producers selected all the most powerful scenes from the six Star Wars movies. I cried as we saw little Annakin Skywalker morph from an adorable pod racer into an anguished young man won over by the dark side. I cried at the beauty of fight scenes, flight scenes, and amazing planets and creatures. But amidst the tears, I also laughed with Jack over the silly monsters in the bar, the rivalry of Luke and Han Solo, and the antics of R2D2 and C3P0, and cowered a little too, whenever Darth Vader towered above us on the largest screen we'd ever seen.

It was a night we'll never forget, a night filled with light sabers, Jedis, and spaceships, a night that definitely deserved the tears I shed.

9 Hours, 4 Movies... Pure Bliss

2009-12-02T06:55:00.002-05:00

I love the movies. I love them on date night. I love them on the couch with Steve snoring softly next to me. I love them snuggled up under a blanket with a child on each knee. Kid movies. Action movies. Romantic movies.

I love them all.

But this weekend, while driving 9 hours to and from New Jersey, I discovered a new way that I love movies.

I love movies with just the sound, with the visuals recreated by the kids' explanations.

We covered all the genres in our 18 hours in the car. There was tween romance with Another Cinderella Story. We then moved on to tween sci fi with Aquamarine. The Smurfs were supposed to be a cartoon for all ages, but ended up being randomly terrifying for all, and had to be replaced by the Care Bears Spooctacular. We even had a 3D showing of The Polar Express.

I "saw" each and every one of those movies with my ears only, but they worked their magic and kept me awake and the kids entertained.

I can't wait for the next road trip. Next time I'll be sure to bring popcorn.

Happy Wordful, Wordless and Way-back wednesday!

Grilled Fish with Kabayaki Sauce and the Steamy Kitchen Cookbook Review

2009-12-01T09:59:00.006-05:00

I love Asian flavors, but I don't often cook with them. My comfort zone is more in the heavy cream and butter zone of the kitchen. But I love it when a cookbook inspires me to get out of my saucy French habits, and play around with more exotic flavors. It's really about letting go of my fear of embarrassment that I won't be able to find the lemongrass or the seaweed shreds in the produce aisle.

When I went to BlogHer Food this summer, I went to a wonderful party on the last night that was organized by a trifecta of amazing food bloggers: Jaden from the Steamy Kitchen, Elise from SimplyRecipes, and Ree from the Pioneer Woman. These women are my inspiration, the golden standard of food blogging. I would have been content to simply sit next to them on a bus, but the party was a dream come true: intimate with great music and decadent food everywhere. And when the guests walked out, each received a foodie dream swag bag. Tucked into said swag bag was a postcard to receive a copy of Jaden's The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.

I promptly popped the postcard in the mail, and forgot about it. A few weeks ago, I received my copy of the Steamy Kitchen, and I instantly began drooling. With the gorgeous color photos of fish and meat glistening with brown sauces, the drooling is inevitable. But as soon as I tore my eyes away from the pictures and began perusing the ingredient lists, I breathed a sigh of relief. These recipes were completely doable, with short lists of ingredients.

The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook was exactly what I needed: Asian cooking, demystified.

I decided to jump right in with the Grilled Fish with Kabayaki Sauce. I literally wanted to lick the picture on the page. And once I made the sauce (it took less than 10 minutes), I was able to lick the spoon to my heart's content. The recipe is an adaptation of that Japanese grilled eel with sweet soy glaze that you sometimes get in sushi restaurants. As eel is hard to find in our supermarkets, Jaden suggested using catfish instead. I chose to indulge in Chilean Sea Bass instead because I love how it tastes so much like lobster.

Grilled Fish with Kabayaki Sauce (adapted to serve 2)

Ingredients

for the Kabayaki Sauce:

1/2 cup of soy sauce (125ml)

1/2 cup mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine) (125 ml)

3 tablespoons of sugar

For the Fish:

1 tablespoon of high-heat cooking oil (I used vegetable oil)

2 firm fish fillets, about 6 oz each, patted dry (I used a large Chilean Sea Bass filet cut in half)

6 cups of steamed short-grain rice

one small handful of dried or toasted seaweed shreds (Kizami Nori), for garnish (I omitted)

2 tablespoons of thinly sliced green onions (scallions), for garnish

In a small saucepot over medium high heat, stir together the Kabayaki Sauce ingredients. When the sauce begins to bubble, immediately turn the heat to low and let it simmer for 4 to 5 minutes, until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Be careful, as the sauce can easily thicken too much, and you'll end up with caramel! If it becomes too thick, whisk in a tablespoon of water at a time.
Set a large frying pan over high heat. When the pan is very hot, add the oil and swirl to coat pan. Lay the fish fillets in the pan, not touching each other. Fry for 2 minutes until the bottoms are browned. Brush the Kabayaki Sauce glaze on the fillets. Flip the fish over and brush the top of the other side. Fry for another minute or two, until the fish flakes easily and is cooled through.
Serve the fish over rice and pour additional Kabayaki Sauce over the fish. Top with seaweed shreds and green onions.

I served this with lightly sauteed sugar snap peas and rice.

A Painful Write of Passage: Riding the Bull

2009-11-30T05:19:00.002-05:00

I was sitting in my office, getting sucked into my computer's glowing screen instead of going to bed like a good girl, when inspiration knocked via email. It was an invite from my new Ohio friend Momo Fali to join a new Ning Group just started by Mrs. Flinger with the most wonderful mission. The group is Write of Passage and it's mission is to bring us back to the essence of blogging: Writing. Community. Challenge.

This week is just the BETA week with a cringe-worthy prompt, but as I am a little brown noser, I jumped right in. I embedded some code at the bottom of this post that should enable you to post a link to your post with the same topic, but if this doesn't appear, please leave it in the comments so I can pay you a visit. And head on over to the NING group so you can join the fun!

My most embarrassing moment. As Natalie Goldberg would say: "10 minutes. Go."

From the onset, I felt like an interloper. When I walked into the back room of the Korean spa, they greeted me in their white bathrobes, champagne glasses in hand. I waved and nodded at each of them in turn as they told me their names, promptly forget them, and then went to change out of my street clothes.

They were a bunch of high school friends on a Moms Gone Wild Weekend in New York City, and it had taken some serious convincing by my neighbor and best friend to get me to crash their reunion. I'm not sure what finally convinced me: the pleasure of getting to spend an entire day with my friend without having to police our kids, the lure of a massage, or the danger of mechanical bull riding. For whatever reason, I found myself driving into New York City that sunny Saturday morning to join a bunch of inebriated women for a Moms Gone Wild weekend.

The afternoon was uneventful, just your typical, blissful, soothing, pampering massage. It wasn't until we walked into the cheesy saloon, off of Times Square, that things began to get interesting. The bull sat in the middle of the deserted bar, a hulking mechanical beast draped in stained leather. I sat with my gaggle of wild moms at the bar, awaiting the first rodeo victims for a few minutes before boredom set in.

The bull sat, frozen in the spotlight, unused, unloved, untamed.

I thought to myself, "how hard can this be? I used to ride horses, this should be piece of cake."

And so, full of bravado and eager to make the night live up to its promise, I walked up to the bull master and signed the waver form.

Minutes later, I had walked across the deeply padded bull pen and climbed atop the contraption. I was towering above the patrons of the rapidly filling bar and being cheered by tourists wearing cowboy hats. Both of my hands were clutching the pommel of the saddle and I gave the technician the nod to begin. He looked back at me and shouted "one hand!" I raised my left hand high in the air, and with a squeak, the bull began moving.

He was jerky, but gentle at first, spinning me slowly around the room in a rough dance. Every quarter turn he would kick up his rump, like a spastic high schooler at a prom. I managed a few embarrassed smiles at my jeering group of moms before the attendant got bored and flipped the speed to high.

Suddenly the bull went wild, bucking back and forth violently, right and left and up and down. He was spinning around so fast that the crowd was a blur. I could hear their shouts but could make out no one. My riding background was helping me too much and I was maintaining my balance. The bull was now so rough and fast that I was scared and had no idea how I would get off gracefully. I tried shouting, "Stop!" but either the attendant didn't hear me, or just ignored me, because the bull just increased its speed.

I must have looked like a pathetic rag doll, bopping back and forth on the back of that black monster with my snazzy suede jacket and my lipsticked lips. Finally, desperate to get off the stage, I simply let go of the saddle. But instead of falling gracefully to the side, I went over the head of the beast, slamming my wrist on the saddle, before falling head first in front of it. I scrambled away on all fours, sinking into the padding until I made it back to the paddock door.

I wanted to skulk off and forget about my very public dismount, but my new friends were waiting for me. Most had cameras in hand, each filled with pics of my mortifying rodeo.

Yoplait Kids Less Sugar More Fun Snack Giveaway

2009-11-29T15:30:00.008-05:00

My kids are big snackers. They come rushing through the doors at 3:30 after school, and dive straight into the pantry, ravenous. Their favorite snack is a cookie, but I do my best to redirect them to a snack with a little more protein power, something that will keep them full until dinner. I have the most success when I tempt them with a fun flavor of yogurt, still sweet, but packed with calcium and protein.

Because Juliette is a big fan of characters, and my food shopping companion, we often end up with Yoplait Kids yogurt in our cart. I'm always happy to stock up on yogurt, but I recently learned, thanks to MyBlogSpark, that Yoplaid Kids yogurt is not only low in sugar, it's also packed with Vitamin D. As a result, I'm even likely to suggest it to my little shopper helper, and asking for her help to add it to the cart.

For giveaway today, MyBlogSpark has given me two Yoplait Less Sugar, More Fun prize packs to giveaway (I also received my own as a thank you for this post). The winners will receive a coupon* for any of the Yoplait Kids yogurt products along with a travel cooler (to take your yogurt on-the-go), a fun spoon that changes colors in warm water, a reusable place mat with games to keep the kids happy while snacking, and a fuzzy tangle puzzle for some after-snack fun.

For a chance to win one of these Yoplait Kids Snackpacks, leave a comment here with your favorite afterschool snack before Friday, December 11. I'll select the winner at midnight that night.

As usual, you can get extra chances to win by:

linking to this contest on your blog,
subscribing to my Chefdruck Musings feed
subscribing to my Chefdruck Reviews feed.
tweeting this contest.

Just remember to leave me a different comment to get credit for each extra entry.

*This coupon offer for a free six pack of Yoplait Kids yogurt is not valid in some states, including Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota and Tennessee.

Macho Puzzling

2009-11-28T07:39:00.001-05:00

Some families bond over touch football. Others bond while watching football.

Our family bonds over a puzzle board.

As soon as the kids fall into bed, exhausted after a day of running wild with hordes of cousins, the adults clear off the kitchen table, and break out that year's puzzle.

The puzzle theme may be tame, about flowers or puppies, but there is nothing tame about the puzzle trash talk.

They boast. They curse. They insult each other.
"I am the puzzle master."
"You're no puzzle master. You suck. You would be nothing without me."
"What! I've done this whole puzzle by myself you loser! I am carrying this whole thing by myself."
"Dream on."

They hover. They shove each other out of the way. There is no doubt that the masterminds at Ravensburger would be shocked by such macho puzzling.

The same childhood stories and rivalries are rehashed, making us all tear with laughter as the retelling improves with age.

I mostly sit around, laughing with my sister in law at our husbands' antics, gossiping and catching up. Nearby my mother in law stands at the sink, finishing doing the dishes. She jumps into the conversation, adding details to the old stories, reveling in the sounds of boisterous boyish behavior back under her roof for a little while.

The Concorde: my Most Requested Thanksgiving Dessert

2009-11-27T07:33:00.000-05:00

Dessert is a serious Thanksgiving affair in our family. The turkey, stuffing and sides are nothing but a prelude to the orgy of desserts to follow. Every year, our list of desserts grows, covering every inch of the dining room table.
This year, contributing to Thanksgiving dinner was hard. I didn't want to disturb my mother in law in her final preparations in her kitchen, but I didn't know how I could keep things cold for the nine hour drive. I ended up baking carrot souffle, pecan pie, and pumpkin pie in Ohio and keeping them in insulated bags with plenty of ice packs for the ride. Nine hours later, the ice was still cold and the pies were still looking good.

But there was one dessert that would not travel, and it just happened to be my most popular contribution. My family talks about this dessert all year long, and I make it year after year, even though it is a huge undertaking. My brother in law calls me to make sure I'm making it weeks in advance of Thanksgiving, and I'm a total sucker for a request.

The cake is called the Concorde. It is intensely chocolaty yet very light because it is made up of layers of chocolate meringue and chocolate mousse. The recipe below is from the first cookbook I ever owned, a French pastry cookbook by Gaston Lenotre. I am translating it into English and have adjusted the measurements to American units, but you will need a scale to make this cake.

This year, my husband's cousin turned to me, one bite into the cake and said, "this sounds like something I should be eating at a really fancy five-star restaurant, not here in the middle of New Jersey."

Concorde
Ingredients
For the French chocolate meringue
5 egg whites
150 grams (5 oz) of powdered sugar
35 grams (1 oz) of cocoa powder
150 grams (5 oz) of granulated sugar

For the chocolate mousse
9 egg whites
60 grams (2 oz) of granulated sugar
375 grams (13 oz) of bittersweet chocolate
6 egg yolks
225 grams of butter
150 grams (5 oz) of powdered sugar

To make the meringues:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
Mix the cocoa powder and the powdered sugar.
Whip the egg whites until stiff (about 5 minutes). Halfway through, add 20 grams of granulated sugar to help them keep their shape.
When stiff, add the remainder of the granulated sugar at low speed.
Fold in the cocoa sugar mixture with a spatula gently.
Prepare two cookie sheets with silpats or wax paper.
Spoon half of your meringue batter into a pastry bag or a ziploc bag with the corner cut off.
Pipe your meringue batter onto a cookie sheet in three ovals 6 inch long and 4 inch wide.
Fill the other cookie sheet with long straight lines of meringue batter.
Cook in the oven for 40 to 50 minutes, until the meringue is hard but not burnt. Check the meringue frequently to ensure it does not burn.
Remove from the oven, and when cool, cut the long strips into one inch long pieces.

To make the mousse:

Melt the chocolate in a water bath.
Remove from the heat and beat in the butter. The consistency should be like pudding.
Add the egg yolks, making sure the mixture is relatively cool so that it is ready to be mixed with the egg whites.
Beat the egg whites until stiff, adding 20 grams of sugar half-way through to keep them firm.
Pour the chocolate mixture on top of the egg whites, and fold it carefully together, rotating the bowl a quarter turn after every fold. You want to be very gently to maintain as much of the air as possible.
Put the mousse in the fridge for an hour to chill.

To assemble the cake:

On a serving dish, lay one oval meringue disk.
Cover the meringue disk with chocolate mousse.
Lay another meringue disk on top of the mousse.
Cover it with more mousse and repeat with the last meringue disk.
Cover the entire cake with chocolate mousse and then decorate it to fully cover most of the mousse with the inch-long meringue pieces.
Dust with a little powdered sugar.
Refrigerate before serving. The cake tastes best if made the day before.

Thanksgiving Chit Chat, at Last

2009-11-26T05:13:00.001-05:00

For years, Thanksgiving Day was a blur. I managed a few hellos, quick pecks on the cheek to relatives and friends before racing back to manage one baby or another. Whenever I got the baby down for a nap, the troops of cousins running through the house would wake the baby right back up. The only solution was to put the cranky baby back on my hip and return to the party, attempting to keep up with the flow of conversation while jiggling my hip rhythmically.

But now that Juliette is three, I can finally enjoy Thanksgiving. There are no more worries about stairs, naps, or breastfeeding schedules. Juliette will be joining the hordes of running children, and all I'll have to remember is an occasional reminder to visit the potty.

For the first time in 8 years, I'll be able to join in the Thanksgiving chit chat, to fully focus on my relatives, to talk politics with the aunts and uncles, relationships with the single crowd, and just go with the flow.

I can't wait.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I hope your chit chat is fun and your turkey is moist.

The Dreaded 'Do Curse

2009-11-25T00:30:00.000-05:00

She cursed me. With a knowing smile, she casually cursed me.

It was during one of my last days in New Jersey, days filled with teary goodbyes, quick hugs, and frantic packing. We'd already said all our farewells, made our plans for future visits, and I was picking up my car keys, when she tossed out the curse.

"Oh, and make sure you don't let them give you the do."

"The do?"
"You know. The Midwestern do. The Jon and Kate special."

I nodded and smiled and then promised that I would protect my hair from the poofy Kate bob effect.

Little did I know that I would be powerless against the Do.

I've had two haircuts since we moved to Ohio, and the end result is always the same. Regardless of my instructions, my hair comes out all wrong. Poofy all over, long in all the wrong places, and short in all the other wrong places. I walk in dreaming of a youthful, clean, new look and come out feeling old and dowdy.

I know it's the curse because my neighbors and other moms at school are not sporting the do.

I squeezed a haircut in yesterday morning before picking up the kids and driving nine hours back to New Jersey so I could look my best for all our relatives. Turns out I'll be squeezing in another haircut today, for an emergency fix.

Thought I'd be preparing for Thanksgiving by cooking, instead of by primping!

Happy Wordful, Wordless and Way-back wednesday!

Got Salsa on your Thanksgiving Shopping List?

2009-11-24T08:04:00.004-05:00

When you're walking down the aisles of your neighborhood supermarket today (if you have your act together), tomorrow (if you have a few hours to kill), or even Thursday (if you live on the edge), do a little something different this year. Throw in a bottle or two of Pace salsas. Trust me on this one.

I'm not suggesting that you mess with your Turkey on Thursday. That would be sheer insanity. I'm the first to argue that you don't mess with tradition. At the most, you play around with a few additional funky sides. Although this year, we will be basting one of our two turkeys with apple cider instead of its own juices.

No, I'm suggesting something a little different for the day after Thanksgiving. The leftover day. A few weeks ago, I received a huge box from Pace Picante sauce and salsas. I opened the box cautiously, half-expecting a dancing girl to pop out, and was relieved to see that it contained four extremely well-protected bottles of Pace salsas, in an assortment of flavors. There were your usual hot and mild salsas, as well as an intriguing salsa verde and a delicious looking black bean and corn version.

I love a good PR pitch, and this definitely fell in that category. The Pace Picante folks included a bunch of recipes for turkey leftovers using those salsas. "Why not use your turkey leftovers a little differently this year?" they asked. And I have to agree that it is a great idea. I mean, Thanksgiving on a bun is fun and all, but there's no reason not to try something a little different. And come Saturday, if you're still with family as I will be, I'm definitely ready for a change.

I gave it a try last night so that I would have some pics to share with you. And I won't lie. It was also fun to do a little Thanksgiving preview by filling the house with the smell of roasting chicken. Instead of using one of the Pace Picante recipes, I opted to use my own so that I could make use of some of the ingredients I had on hand. I'm including the recipe below, along with the ones sent to me by the Pace PR folks, but you could really do it with a variety of ingredients, as long as you have tortillas and some of the Pace salsas. My favorite was the black bean and corn version with its light smokiness and gorgeous deep mole color.

Thanksgiving Leftover Mexican Wraps (Serves 2)
1 cup of diced leftover turkey
1 avocado
1/2 white onion, minced
1 red pepper, diced
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/3 cup of sour cream
4 tortillas
Shredded Mexican cheese

Spread the tortillas on a cookie sheet. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a pan, heat the olive oil on medium heat. Add the minced onion and red pepper. Saute until soft, about 5 minutes.
Add the chicken to the pan and mix well.
Pour the onion and chicken mixture evenly in the middle of each tortilla.
Sprinkle some cheese over the chicken mixture and close up the tortillas, inverting them so they don't open back up.
Bake in oven to melt the cheese for 5 minutes.
Top with sour cream (which I mashed with some avocado), salsa of your choice, and sliced avocado.

And here are a few more recipes to inspire you from the folks at Pace.
Pace® Cheesy Chicken Bean Skillet

Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes
Makes: 4 servings

2 cups cubed, cooked chicken or turkey
1 cup Pace® Mexican Four Cheese Salsa con Queso
1 can (about 15 ounces) pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup coarsely crumbled blue corn tortilla chips
1. Heat the chicken, queso and beans in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over
medium heat to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to low. Cook
for 5 minutes or until the chicken mixture is hot and bubbling.
2. Top the chicken mixture with the tortilla chips just before serving.

Tip: You can omit the crumbled tortilla chips and serve the chicken/turkey mixture as a quesadilla filling or a warm dip.
50522

Southwestern Chicken Chili

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 35 minutes
Makes: 6 servings (about 1 1/2 cups per serving)

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 / 2 cup chopped celery
1 / 2 cup chopped red pepper
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 cups Swanson® Chicken Stock
2 cans (15 ounces each) great Northern beans
1 jar (16 ounces) Pace® Chunky Salsa
2 cups chopped cooked chicken or turkey
Shredded pepper Jack cheese
Cubed avocado

1. Heat the oil in a 4-quart saucepot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery
and pepper and cook until they're tender. Stir in the flour and cumin and
cook for 2 minutes. Stir the stock in the saucepot. Cook and stir until the
mixture boils.
2. Stir the beans, salsa and chicken in the saucepot. Heat to a boil. Reduce the
heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes.
3. Garnish with the cheese and avocado.
Nutritional Values per Serving : Calories 351, Total Fat 9g, Saturated Fat 2g,
Cholesterol 43mg, Sodium 919mg, Total Carbohydrate 42g, Dietary Fiber 8g,
Protein 25g, Vitamin A 14%DV, Vitamin C 17%DV, Calcium 10%DV, Iron 21%DV
24152

Monterey Chicken Tortilla Casserole

Prep: 15 minutes
Bake: 40 minutes
Makes: 4 servings (about 1 cup each)

1 cup coarsely crumbled tortilla chips
2 cups cubed cooked chicken or turkey
1 can (about 15 ounces) cream-style corn
3 / 4 cup Pace® Picante Sauce
1 / 2 cup sliced pitted ripe olives
2 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese (about 1/2 cup)
Chopped green or red pepper
Tortilla chips

1. Layer the crumbled chips, chicken, corn and picante sauce in a 1-quart
casserole. Top with the olives and cheese.
2. Bake at 350°F. for 40 minutes or until the mixture is hot and bubbling. Top
with the pepper. Serve with the chips.
Nutritional Values per Serving : Calories 337, Total Fat 14g, Saturated Fat
5g, Cholesterol 77mg, Sodium 944mg, Total Carbohydrate 28g, Dietary Fiber
4g, Protein 26g, Vitamin A 10%DV, Vitamin C 8%DV, Calcium 14%DV, Iron 12%
DV
24811

Picante Turkey Rolls

Prep: 10 minutes
Makes: 4 servings

4 flour tortillas (10-inch), warmed
1 / 4 cup cream cheese, softened
1 / 2 pound thinly sliced deli turkey breast or cooked turkey
1 / 2 cup Pace® Picante Sauce
1 large avocado, peeled, pitted and chopped (about 1 cup)
1. Spread 1 tablespoon cream cheese on each tortilla to within 1/2 inch of the edge. Top each with about 4 turkey slices, 2 tablespoons picante sauce and 1/4 cup avocado.
2. Roll up the tortillas tightly, leaving the ends open. Cut each roll in half. Serve with additional picante sauce for dipping.
To make appetizer rounds: Cut each rolled tortilla into 1/2-inch slices and arrange on a serving platter. Serve with additional picante sauce for dipping.
Nutritional Values per Serving : Calories 446, Total Fat 19g, Saturated Fat
5g, Cholesterol 54mg, Sodium 743mg, Total Carbohydrate 44g, Dietary Fiber
7g, Protein 24g, Vitamin A 6%DV, Vitamin C 8%DV, Calcium 12%DV, Iron 21%
DV
50489

Pace® Mucho Queso Pizza

Prep: 15 minutes
Bake: 15 minutes
Makes: 4 servings

1 cup Pace® Mexican Four Cheese Salsa con Queso
1 prepared pizza crust (10-inch)
1 / 2 cup shredded cooked chicken or turkey
1 / 2 cup sliced sun-dried tomatoes
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
1. Heat the oven to 400°F.
2. Spread the salsa con queso onto the pizza crust to within 1/2-inch of the edge. Top with the chicken, tomatoes, cheese and basil.
3. Bake for 15 minutes or until the salsa con queso is hot and bubbling.
50484

Salsa Verde Chicken Wraps

Prep: 15 minutes
Makes: 4 servings

1 cup Pace® Salsa Verde
2 cups diced cooked chicken or turkey
1 large red pepper, diced (about 1 cup)
1 large avocado, diced (about 1 cup)
1 / 2 cup sour cream
4 flour tortillas (10-inch), warmed
2 cups shredded lettuce
1. Stir 1/2 cup salsa, chicken, pepper and avocado in a large bowl. Stir the remaining salsa and sour cream in a small bowl.
2. Spread 1 / 4 cup sour cream mixture onto each tortilla to within 1/2 inch of the edge. Top each with 1 cup chicken mixture and 1/2 cup lettuce. Fold the sides of the tortillas over the filling and then fold up the ends to enclose the filling. Cut each wrap in half before serving.

New Moon: I'm on Team Steve

2009-11-23T09:16:00.005-05:00

My husband loves me.... a lot.

How do I know? I know, beyond the Valentine's Day breakfast and the fact that he empties the dishwasher every morning before heading out to work. I know, with full certainty, because on Friday night, he agreed to come see New Moon with me and a theater full of screaming teenagers. The man is nothing short of a saint.

And when I ooheed right along with the barely pubescent audience when Edward (Robert Pattinson) came on the screen and when Jacob (Taylor Lautner) took off this shirt, he didn't get up and walk away, disgusted with his silly wife. He gave me a little amused look, and turned back to the movie, no doubt planning all the war movies he was going to get us to see now that he had agreed to this vampire flick.

I loved the Twilight books. I began Twilight last Thanksgiving and didn't come up for air until Christmas when I finished Breaking Dawn. But I was bitterly disappointed by the first Twilight movie. I found the acting stilted and the special effects comical.

But New Moon was a different story. I'm not sure if it was the bigger budget, the new director, or Jacob's incredibly buff body, but it worked. The acting hit the right note. The special effects were credible. And the colors and scenes in Italy with the Volteri were striking. I still struggled with some of the Edward lines to Bella, a little too intense and serious to be taken seriously. I may get crucified for this by all the Edward fans out there, but I just wanted to tell him to lighten up! But then again, I had the same frustration with the book, probably due to the fact that I'd rather crawl into a warm and comfy bed than a cold and hard one. The nail in the Edward coffin, as far as I'm concerned, were the sparkling body scenes that still didn't look right, and when he took his clothes off for the Volteri.

But after all the gossip about whether Taylor Lautner would be able to bulk up enough to play the movie, and all the pressure for him to quit, I had to admire how he rose to the challenge. He not only looked amazing, completely believable as a scrawny boy overnight metamorphasized into a werewolf, but he also acted the part perfectly. The bulk of the movie was on his shoulders and he carried it well. The werewolf special effects and scenes were amazing, making these massive creatures into bonafide characters, no small feat when you're talking about monstrous wolves. And Taylor Lautner straddled the balance of moody teenager raging against this massive change in his life and pining Bella fan and gave the film the tension it needed, and that I was hoping it would have.

I guess this makes me firmly in Team Jacob, at least for this movie. But really, I'm with Team Steve, the man who endured all of this Twilight fanaticism and pretended to enjoy it!

A Night with Anthony Bourdain, the Bad Boy of Food

2009-11-22T11:37:00.004-05:00

Last night the bad boy of food, Anthony Bourdain, came to speak at the Palace Theater in Columbus.

It was one of the most entertaining evenings I've ever had.

As expected, Bourdain spared no punches, and was shockingly outspoken. But the crowd made the evening. The audience was raucous and highly participatory, yelling out "douche" when Bourdain broached the topic of vegetarians and "don't do it!" when he said he wanted to take back something he said in Kitchen Confidential. "Why Columbus?" asked one of the audience members during the q&a following his talk, "because I get paid for these things!" His brutal honesty is one of the many reasons why Tony Bourdain is revered and adored.

He began the evening by raving about a Japanese restaurant called Kihachi which I've reviewed. "We drove to this strip mall suburb called Dublin and pulled in front of this little random restaurant. Walking through those doors is like stepping into Japan. Best f*ing meal I've had outside of Osaka." Later on in the q&a section when asked how he found Kihachi, he said, "Well, when looking for places to eat, bloggers seem to know best" and then gave shout out to the restaurant widow blog. And concluded that this is yet more proof that print is dead.

He soon got down to business tearing apart the Food Network hosts one by one, berating the network for dumbing down food TV. He argued that the FoodNetwork is getting rid of all the great chefs like Emeril and Mario and replacing them with these lightweights who don't do real cooking. "They're catering to those 400 pound Americans who are sitting in their lazyboys with their gallons of diet coke and their jumbo bags of Cheetos. They're watching Sandra Lee do the thing she calls cooking and saying "yeah, I could do that" and then going right back to eating their cheetos." His feud with Rachael Ray and Sandra Lee has gotten much press, and made the audience go wild.

The man has a point. Although the Food Network has really put food on the map, they've gotten very gimmicky lately and with the exception of Giada, Bobby Flay and Paula Deen, there's more and more fluff and less and less cooking inspiration.

Then he moved on to what I found the most inspiring portion of his talk: the quest for amazing meals while traveling. He took back his advice from Kitchen Confidential to never eat in a restaurant with a dirty bathroom. For the next twenty minutes, he dazzled us with descriptions of incredible meals he had in ratty places across the world, tacos from a little stand in Mexico and sizzling Szechuan soup that makes you feel like you're being "licked and spanked at the same time" and leaves you feeling like "I didn't know that I liked that." I loved his final advice, "a little extra time on the thunder bucket is a small risk to pay for the perfect meal, a meal you'll remember forever."

He concluded with some advice for Americans traveling abroad, at least those interested in eating well.

Stop traveling in packs. If you walk into a restaurant and see other Americans there, keep on walking.
If you're lucky enough to travel in this world, it is important to eat what you are offered.
Travel is a luxury. When people are nice to you, dress well and be appreciative. Eat what they offer and say thank you instead of turning up your nose at local foods.
Avoid Western-friendly restaurants in hotels. It's the first place likely to give you food poisoning and a bad meal.
We may not find world peace this way, but, hey, it's a start.

Beyond all the bad boy posturing, all the name calling, the earing, and the hoopla, is a man with the same message I repeat to my kids night after night. "Taste everything and say thank you." He just does it a little more colorfully than me.

He began his speech by raving about