Wine or the sexy, sweet gift from the gods

Wine is the sunlight, held together by water.  It begins with the soil, the vine, the grape – the smell of the vineyard like inhaling birth awakens something ancestral, primordial…deeply imprinted and subconsciously placed in the soul.

A glass, a bottle, an entire cellar.  Whether it’s sweet, oaky, or dry; spicy, earthy or complex; be it a red variety, a white, or something in between.  A gorgeous, aromatic, beckoning glass offering a tantalizing dance on the taste buds. Why is it so tempting to watch this divine liquid fill the glass and inevitably quench an inexplicable thirst for the promise of an unexpected bouquet of flavors?

The beauty of this amazing nectar is in the many personalities it can take – seductive, playful, sophisticated, feisty – a virtual chameleon of essence orchestrating feeling and emotion with just one sip.  It is the earth and the elements combined with faith and patience that gives the bounty, feeding the soul as well as the senses.  Salud.        

quote borrowed with a little poetic license from Bottle Shock (2008)

St. Patrick's Day

Like many of you, I associate March with the coming of spring, warmer weather ahead and of course St. Patrick's Day.  Being an "Irishman" by birth (my maternal grandfather's family came from the land of rolling hills and leprechauns) and then by marriage, it seems only fitting that I celebrate the luck of the Irish. 

St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland and of course we celebrate by donning anything and everything green.  It is a religious day in Ireland and here in the states it's a day to celebrate your heritage (everyone seems to be a little Irish on St. Paddy's Day) and of course to drink!  Most Irishmen go for the beer, but I prefer a lovely Irish Coffee or a Bailey's Irish Martini.

When San Francisco restaurateur Jack Koeppler introduced the classic Irish Coffee to America in 1952, it was described as "coffee strong as a friendly hand, cream rich as an Irish brogue, sugar as sweet as the tongue of a rogue and Irish whiskey as smooth as the wit of the land."  If you prefer something a little more Irish and cool, try the Bailey's Irish Martini, an "all-Irish liquor" in a simple, smooth concoction.

Irish Coffee - Recipe courtesy of Tony Abou-Ganim, www.themodernmixologist.com
This recipe has two variations from the original ingredients: it's topped with cinnamon for extra kick and it uses refined instead of brown sugar.

Ingredients:
1-1/2 oz. Irish Whiskey
2 sugar cubes
Freshly-brewed coffee, dark roast
Homemade whipped cream
Ground cinnamon, optional

Preparation:
Brew a pot of your favorite dark roast coffee. Whip up heavy cream until firm, but not stiff. Do not sweeten. Heat your Irish Coffee glasses by filling them with hot water. (Always serve hot drinks in a preheated glass.)
In the heated glass, dissolve 2 sugar cubes in the fresh brewed coffee. Add Irish Whiskey. Top with a dollop of freshly-whipped cream, and for an extra kick sprinkle cinnamon on top.

• Try substituting your favorite spirits and liqueurs for the Irish Whiskey.
• Always serve with a napkin for dabbing whipped cream moustache.
• Don't serve with straws as the trick is to sip the hot coffee through the chilled whipped cream. 

Bailey's Martini
This three-ingredient recipe comes straight from the files of the Baileys Irish company and puts a martini twist on the classic Irish Coffee.  It's both spirited and simple with a shot of strong, cold coffee for an extra kick.


Ingredients:
3 1/2 oz. Baileys Irish cream
3/4 oz. Bushmills Original Irish Whiskey
Shot of strong, cold coffee
Chocolate sprinkles

Preparation:
Drop some ice cubes into a shaker and pour over Baileys. Add Bushmills Original Irish Whiskey, then a shot of strong cold coffee. Shake vigorously and serve in a martini glass. Garnish with chocolate sprinkles.

However you celebrate on March 17th and whatever you decide to raise in your glass, remember this Irish toast:

May neighbors respect you, trouble neglect you, the angels protect you, and heaven accept you!


"Beannachtam na Feile Padraig!"
 Happy St. Patrick's Day!

quote and photos courtesy of Fine Living: Food & Drink (www.fineliving.com)

Le Creuset® and Joie de Cuisine

The last few months I have really begun embracing the art of cooking.  I have to confess, I never really thought I had any talent for it and had chalked it up to some things you're good at, some things you just aren't.  So, I have been reading cookbooks and food magazines, watching the Food Network and checking out websites all about cooking hoping to learn a thing or two and get that much closer to attempting some challenging recipes.  I have to say that getting my feet wet in the kitchen and venturing out into the culinary world of Julia, Ina and Giada has been quite an inspiring, fun and educational experience.  The one thing that seems a common thread with all good cooks is high quality cookware.  With this is mind, I thought it was time to evaluate my own - or more accurately, my lack thereof.
One of the things I love about the whole Julia Child/French Cooking is the gorgeous Le Creuset® cookware that she helped make famous.  From watching the cooking shows, I noticed that everyone has at least a few pieces.  I also observed that the food looks fabulous in Le Creuset®, even if the dish itself might seem iffy.  I set out on a quest to price out and purchase this lovely French, cast iron cookware and see if I could add a few pieces to my very minimal collection (I lost custody of the pots and pans in the divorce).  Of course Williams Sonoma has a wonderful collection.  They have all colors, shapes and sizes, for cooking, baking and serving.    Sur La Table also carries a variety of Le Creuset® and even has the original Oval Flame Doufeu - which is the equivalent of a slow cooker - in the signature red/orange hue that these French pots are well-known for.  I also found that my local outlet mall had in fact a Le Creuset® outlet with prices that even these stores with their best sales, could not beat.  Now I had to decide what to purchase.
Many of the recipes I have been mustering the nerve to attempt require braising or roasting which I have found out is perfectly accomplished in a dutch oven.  And of course, Julia's infamous pot-au-feu and boeuf bourguignon are both dutch oven dishes.  It follows then that my first Le Creuset® purchase was the 5.5 quart, round dutch oven in flame.  I can't wait to try the Autumn stew that my sister just sent me the recipe for.  My next thought was a grill pan.  Now, I already have a very nice 12" round grill pan perfect for steaks.  The problem is how cumbersome it can be on the burner.  I have an electric (rolling of the eyes) cook top that I absolutely hate, but hey, the house is a rental.  I really wanted a grill pan that would fit better on the burner and would still cook the food evenly.  Voila square grill pan with panini press.  Not only is it the perfect fit for my cook top, but the press allows for nice grill marks on both sides without turning.  I have visions of this amazing Swordfish with citrus pesto that I watched Giada grilling in her pan the other day.  Yum.  The next suggestion from the saleslady was a saute pan.  I decided to go ahead and get the 10" skillet - perfect for searing and a must for Ina's Scallops Provencal.
Now I have the beginnings of the my own perfect set Le Creuset®.  I have even made a few masterpieces of my own - savory bourbon salmon, scrumptious shrimp scampi and to-die-for bolognese sauce for pasta.  It's amazing - as if the mere fact that you are cooking with these marvelous, colorful, cast iron pots and pans makes your dish a sure fire culinary masterpiece.  Taste buds beware - I seem to have found the joie de cuisine!


photo courtesy of Le Creuset®

French Cooking Class at Williams-Sonoma

Everywhere you look theses days there's a new found or maybe its a "resurged" craze for French cooking.  The buzz around Julie and Julia certainly has brought back interest and maybe even, dare I say, a fad for French cooking?  Let's call it a trend but without being trendy.  After all, French cooking is entirely too complicated and time-consuming to be trendy!  Of course, Williams-Sonoma has jumped on the bandwagon as well and has brought us a new cookbook Essentials of French Cooking.  Tidbit of information, Chuck Williams was very much influenced by French cooking and it was his love for it combined with his love for Sonoma California that led to the first kitchen store as we know it, Williams-Sonoma.  To that end, my local Williams-Sonoma offered a French cooking night or Dinner in Paris as they called it.

The menu consisted of french onion soup, steak frites and creme brulee.  Our chef for the evening was Nicole, how very appropriate, and she demonstrated the art of cooking these simple, yet delicious French dishes.  The French onion soup she cleverly put in baked biscuit bowls - after separating the dough, cook upside down on a cupcake pan - topped with a french bread slice rubbed with garlic (yum) and Guyere cheese.  The combination of sweet onion, beef broth and cheese was truly a savory delight to the taste buds and the touch of garlic on the bread was simply genius.  The steaks were lightly seasoned with coarse salt, pepper and thyme.  I would have added a little butter (I guess the Julia in me is coming out), and cooked nearly to order in a sear pan.  This left wonderful grill marks on the steak as if it had actually been on a grill.  Nicole made a lovely sauce with the leftover pan juices, white wine and butter which she poured over the steak.  Can you say simple and amazing?  The steak was served with pommes frites but unlike typical french fries, these had been twice-fried for a golden crisp and seasoned to taste with coarse salt.  While we feasted on this, Nicole brought out the piece de resistance - creme brulee.  This light, wonderful custard flavored with vanilla and topped with caramelized sugar truly made the meal.  Just make sure you use high quality vanilla and taste as you add - too little vanilla will make the custard bland and the last thing you want is to leave your guests with the taste of bland creme brulee.

By the time we had all cleaned our plates, our tummies were full and we were considering what other delectable french treasures awaited us in the new cookbook.  This menu was as simple as it was delicious.  French onion soup, steak frites and creme brulee - typically French, wonderfully good.  Certainly something to try at home and something to inspire your culinary urge.  Essentials of French Cooking might be a good first-step to awaken the french chef that lurks inside of you!

(photo courtesy of Williams-Sonoma)

Your Inner Julia

If you peruse the New York Times bestseller list you will find four books that in some way have to do with the renewed interest in Julia Child.  Obviously, she is an iconic figure that will forever be the embodiment of culinary art.  Her Mastering the Art of French Cooking is back at #1 after almost 48 years of being published - no small feat for a book that many would call daunting.  Slate's Regina Schrambling writes "Don't buy Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking - you'll never cook from it."  She argues that the recipes are too complicated, too fattening and too time consuming for the today's everyday cook.  "The book," she states, "was never meant for the frivolous or trendy."  While she may be correct, I disagree that one on the quest of discovering her inner-Julia should shy away from it.  While it is true that my last blog was about simple white rice, who's to say that as I gain more confidence in my cooking ability, I may not just find myself tackling a few of Julia's French masterpieces?  Julie Powell reinvented herself by taking each recipe, struggling through it and mastering it.  Someone once said you have to start somewhere.  I say master the simple and then go ahead and master the art. 

quotes from www.Slate.com FOOD: What to eat. What not to eat.

Simple, Quick, Perfect White Rice - Every Time

What is the deal with white rice?  Why does this simple little grain seem to be an elusive item to prepare well?  A discussion we got into on Saturday night.  Dinner consisted of grilled chicken, mixed veggies and white rice.  He marinated the chicken, I got the veggies ready for nuking (don't judge me - they were frozen) and the water boiling for rice.

What are you doing? - he says.
Making the rice - says me.
You're boiling the water first? - perplexed look.
Of course. That's how I always make it.  I showed you.
I thought you put everything in the pot and bring it to a boil. The last time I made it, it took 45 minutes.
45 MINUTES!? - now I'm perplexed - Uh, no - rice takes about 20-25.
He's confused.

White rice should not take 45 minutes to cook.  You also do not need to rinse the rice, add butter, or be concerned about fluffing as opposed to stirring the rice.  You do not need packaged instant rice or a rice cooker for perfection.  Looking on-line, I found about a million different schools of thoughts, as well as recipes, for rice.  Now I was confused.  I have always found rice to be a very simple dish to prepare and one of the few that I have always been able to make perfectly and without fail.  My grandmother taught us to make the perfect rice while I was growing up.  It's always quick, simple and foolproof every time.  I'm sharing it below.

Tita's Simple White Rice
The ratio is 2:1 so for 1 cup of rice, use 2 cups of water.

ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil
1 garlic clove (optional)
1 cup long-grain white rice
2 cups boiling water
salt to taste

preparation:

boil 2 cups water. place oil in pot with tight fitting lid on high heat.  add peeled and chopped garlic clove(or 2) if desired.  place rice in hot oil and sautee for about 1 minute.  add boiled water and pinch or two of salt.  stir while boiling for about 1-2 minutes.  reduce heat to low.  place paper towel on pot and cover tightly (yes, between the pot and the lid - this will absorb the water quickly and help steam the rice).  cook until rice has absorbed all water - approximately 20-25 minutes.  Paper towel will be soaked.  VERY IMPORTANT - take paper towel from between pot and lid before turning off rice.  Stir, add more salt if necessary, and serve.  Makes about 4-6 servings.

New York City - Bring Your Appetite!

There's something about New York City that is unmatched by any other city in the United States. You feel it the minute you step off the plane or train. Go for fun, go for work, go for love - New York has it all. And you can find anything there - any time, any day, any night. What I found on my end-of-summer jaunt to the big city was food. Yes, FOOD. Amazing food. Sinfully good food. Thank goodness for all the walking or I would have returned a much larger version of my former self! Five days and although I caught some sights and a couple of shows, what I honestly did was ate my way through Manhattan. Thank goodness I brought my appetite!

First, there was the infamous Katz's Deli on the Lower East Side. Can you say mouth orgasm!? Seriously. Remember the infamous scene in When Harry Met Sally? (it was filmed there) Yes, I had what she was having and I am ruined for all other sandwiches. Have the pastrami. It's to die for. Go there. Order it. Enjoy it. Next, Chinese food. We were Midtown and directed to a place off Lexington. The ambiance was a tad pretentious but Mr. K's offered the most delicious and the biggest prawns I have ever had! Cooked to perfection in a shitaki mushroom reduction, these suckers satisfied every craving I was having that night! It was truly a sublime experience and my taste buds were definitely the better for it. Little Italy, of course - any and every restaurant. We took our appetites to several different places and I can't begin to say which was the best. The streets were lined with dining options, little restaurants serving up the most amazing fare - lobster ravioli, chicken rollatini, sole stuffed with spinach, veal parmegian - it was all stupendous, phenomenal, unmatched anywhere. I think they all had an Italian grandma hiding in the kitchen just waiting for our order. And of course, the pizza. One word - Lombardi's. The birth place of New York pizza. It absolutely lives up to it's name. The thin crust was like a party in my mouth. Unbelievable and unforgettable. But do yourself a favor, don't overdo the toppings. Savor the simplicity of it. Eat it as it was meant to be eaten. Enjoy the real deal.

As my plane touched down back home, I missed NYC already. It was truly a culinary trip beyond gastric expectations and I didn't even hit the tip of the proverbial iceberg! So for now it's back to the gym and many, many salads. But I'm already planning my next New York City visit. Bright lights, big city, brilliant food. Salute!

image courtesy of http://blogs.ebay.co.uk/richard1rst/archive/2009/03

Who Knew I Could Cook? (J&J Part II)

I never enjoyed cooking. There are a million reasons but mostly I think it's because I was told I couldn't do it and I wasn't good at it. But I've been inspired. Now that I am reading Julie & Julia and there is this renewed interest in Julia Child, I am actually getting my hands (and my pots and pans) dirty and trying a few recipes. Amazingly enough, I'm actually pretty good at it. I certainly don't fashion myself a Barefoot Contessa or Martha Stewart but I have been brave enough to try a few of their recipes. It's incredible what you can do when you follow directions, follow your instincts and follow your heart. I'm being serious. After nearly 19 years of being told and agreeing with "no, she can't cook", I am finding myself thinking about it, enjoying it and wanting to share it. For instance, the other night I made a turkey spinach meatloaf (sans the vanilla soy milk mom!) with roasted root vegetables to die for. My daughter and I feasted. It may not seem like much to most, but for me it was a truly triumphant moment! Maybe I can cook. Maybe I just never knew it was in me. Now I am thinking I might be ready to tackle a few of Julia's recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, although after reading Julie Powell's experience with bone marrow, I think I will stay away from steak avec la sauce de moelle de boeuf. Look out, I just might surprise a few and become a foodie yet! Bon Appetit!

Julie & Julia: Let It Inspire You

The highly anticipated Julie & Julia is being served up to movie goers everywhere this Friday, August 7th. From Twitter to Facebook, from Bookstores to Blogs, this chick flick promises to entertain and educate the masses not only on cooking, but also on the merits of blogging. "365 days. 536 recipes. One girl and a crappy outer borough kitchen."

By now, everyone's heard the story - Julie Powell, government drone as she calls herself, decides to tackle Mastering the Art of French Cooking by the infamous Julia Child who essentially taught America to cook. Julie documents her "year of cooking dangerously" in a blog, back when blogs were just beginning to emerge. Her Julie/Julia Project blog eventually became a book (a best seller) and now a movie. Hey, who wouldn't want Amy Adams to play her in the movie version of a hairbrained idea that turned into a life changing catharsis. You have to love the irony. And of course this prompts the average blogger to say, hey, why can't I do that. And of course the blogs have begun!

What I love about his story - the girl who inadvertently saw the light through cooking - is that so many of us can relate. We are "Julie" and we are looking for our "Julia" to help steer us into the next chapter of our lives. Julie Powell's story gives us hope just as Julia Child gives us inspiration. Be fearless.

quotes and photos courtesy of www.julieandjulia.com