I can’t wait. I love Christmas so much! Yesterday, I went over to my mom and dad’s for a big day of cookie baking and Christmas Eve dinner planning. It turned out that my mom had made most of the cookies already, but we did spend a couple of hours making Thumbprints. We roll ours in chopped almonds and use apricot and raspberry jelly for the filling. We also usually make Russian Tea Cakes (also known as Mexican Wedding Cakes), Mandelbrot (a Jewish biscotti-like cookie) and Pizzelles (Italian waffle cookies.) This year, in keeping with our Scandinavian Christmas theme, we tried a new recipe: Scandinavian Rye Cookies. They are basically a sugar cookie with some rye flour added. They turned out pretty tasty. We also received a package in the mail this week from Robert’s family in New Mexico containing Biscochitos (Spanish anise seed cookies.) In my family, we almost never make cookies with chocolate or mint flavors or ones that require icing or frosting. We tend to prefer drier, crunchy, even slightly salty cookies, flavored with nuts or spices; the kind of cookies that go really, really well with coffee. What Christmas cookies do you traditionally look forward to every year?

We are right in the thick of what Robert refers to as the “whipped cream holidays.” This is the span of time (roughly November to February) during which whipped cream starts to appear on the cocktail menu of every restaurant and bar in the country. If it’s got kahlua, creme de menthe, bailey’s, or frangelico in it, it’s going to be topped with whipped cream. People where I live practically count the days until eggnog and peppermint lattes show up in the coffee shops. I usually stay away from any beverage made with excessive amounts of sugar and cream; I prefer my coffee black and my cocktails basic. This year, however, I found myself wanting to make eggnog. I have absolutely no idea where this impulse came from because I have never been an eggnog drinker. But, there it was, this strange desire to indulge in a sweet, fattening holiday drink. I would soon be participating in the “whipped cream holidays” just like everyone else.

On Saturday, Robert and I wandered down to our local liquor store so that he could replace his diminishing supply of Maker’s Mark and I could get the rum I needed for my eggnog. I was originally planning on using the eggnog recipe from How to Cook Everything which is for a very quick, uncooked eggnog. But, then I came across this recipe which had been given rave reviews by all who had tried it. In this recipe, you cook the egg yolks slowly in spiced milk and then, after it has cooled, you add cream and lots of rum. It was a little bit more work but really was not that difficult. The only tricky part was combining the hot milk slowly with the egg yolks so that they don’t curdle.

I let my eggnog sit in the refrigerator for several hours before serving. It was very tasty and, as expected, extremely rich (see the recipe notes for calorie and fat count, if you’re curious.) I’m pretty sure the rum was actually the healthiest ingredient in there. That same evening, as Robert and I were sipping our eggnog, we happened to flip to the Food Network right when Emeril was making eggnog for his audience. His preparation was very similar to mine but, for some reason, his eggnog was coming out a disconcertingly bright shade of yellow. More frightening, however, was the extremely lumpy texture that his eggnog had taken on. It looked like scrambled eggnog. And this was the premade version that he pulled out of the fridge to serve to his guests, not the version he had been making live, which would have been slightly more forgivable. As we watched in horror, we began to appreciate the smooth texture and spicy, rummy flavor of my eggnog so much more!

Yesterday, I took the day off work so that I could participate in one of my holiday traditions, a full day of shopping, eating, and Christmas dinner planning with my mom and sister. Before dropping me off at my mom’s in the morning, Robert wanted to swing by Group 2 Motorsports to bring some doughnuts to the guys, one of his own holiday traditions. We stopped by Top Pot Doughnuts and I picked out a dozen for the guys and ordered two unglazed old-fashioneds for Robert and myself. Top Pot is the best doughnut shop ever. They started out in a small shop in my neighborhood, Capitol Hill, and now have a few locations in Seattle, each with it’s own unique atmosphere. I couldn’t wait so I immediately wolfed down my doughnut in the car on the way to the auto shop. It was sweet and crispy and would have gone wonderfully with some coffee if I had been smart enough to order some. Then, while Robert ate doughnuts and discussed new wheels for his car with the guys, I perused the old alfa romeos sprinkled throughout the garage.

After that, it was off to Ballard with the gals for shopping and lunch. Ballard is this really cool neighborhood just outside of Seattle with lots of artists, funky shops, great restaurants, old buildings and a large Scandinavian population. We are planning a Scandinavian dinner for Christmas this year so, of course, we had to check out Ballard’s various Scandinavian delis. For lunch, we went to La Carta de Oaxaca, a hugely popular restaurant that serves authentic Oaxacan dishes. It has a really stylish atmosphere with long, wooden tables (some are communal, an emerging trend here in Seattle) and tons of framed black and white photos of Mexico covering every square inch of the walls. The menu has about 15 choices, all small plates that are great for sharing. We started with warm chips and guacamole and chose 3 different salsas from the salsa bar. Then, we split the tostada de camarones (lime-marinated prawns and avocado on top of a freshly fried corn tortilla), mushroom empanada (spiced mushrooms grilled in a flour tortilla), and the enchilada with red sauce, Oaxaqueno cheese and a fried egg. Everything was very fresh, not too cheesy and very well executed. And, since we had gone for lunch, we didn’t have to deal with the hour-long wait that plagues the dinner crowd.

It was a long day of shopping and trying to figure out just what the heck that is in those jars at the Scandinavian delis so, for dinner, Robert and I decided to take it easy and stay very close to home. We did, however, try a new place in our neighborhood. A couple of blocks from our home is one of those haunted locations where a new restaurant is popping up every six months or so only to close down a couple of months later. Right now, it is a restaurant called Cypress. The menu features casual Mediterranean food and actually has really reasonable prices. Robert had the lamb burger with Greek fries which he enjoyed. I always have to be more complicated so I ordered the calamari appetizer as my main course, a fattoush salad and a glass of retsina. The retsina was a different brand than the one I am used to and it had a much tamer pine flavor. It was more like a very lemony wine. The calamari dish was actually pretty good - calamari sauteed with chickpeas and sundried tomatoes served on top of seared spinach. The fattoush salad could have been better. It had all of the proper ingredients - romaine, cucumber, tomato, scallions, mint and pita croutons - but there were very few pieces of pita in mine and, those that were present, were slimy and chewy rather than crisp. Also, for some reason, it was really hard to eat. It was as if the vegetables were chopped in such a way as to make them both unscoopable and unpierceable. Overall, the food was OK and worth the price but, they may need to make a few improvements if they want to last longer than their predecessors. I will be going back, though, because the polenta fries that are offered with their sandwiches sound quite intriguing.

I can’t believe it! It’s actually snowing right now…and sticking! It hardly ever snows where I live and certainly never in November. This is so great. I just put up my Christmas tree yesterday and, between that and the snow, I am completely in the holiday spirit. I’ve been thinking of things that I could do to maintain this cheerful mood throughout the month of December. Aside from the obvious family get togethers, work parties and gift giving, my holiday traditions include watching the movie Elf and all of the old TV specials (Peanuts, Rudolph, Grinch), going somewhere fancy for a holiday cocktail with Robert, and reading/listening to Santaland Diaries, preferably while sipping on some sort of hot chocolate or mulled wine. Another big tradition for me is taking a day off of work for shopping, lunch and Christmas dinner planning with my mom and sister. We always have lots of fun.  This year, my goals are to do a lot of baking and to try making homemade eggnog for the first time (the perilous alcohol and raw egg kind, not the teetotaling cooked custard variety).  What things do you all do to get yourselves into the holiday spirit?

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Ours was lots of fun and, as usual, the food turned out great. Here is the menu:

Roasted Turkey with Gravy
Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes with Red Chili
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Butternut Squash Puree
Oven-Roasted Fennel, Cauliflower, Carrots and Shiitake Mushrooms
Green Salad with Red Pears, Pomegranate Seeds and Hazelnuts
Sauteed Brussels Sprout Leaves with Caraway
Sweet Potato Pie
Pear Galete with Almonds

Two of these dishes were new this year: the very yummy pear galete that my sister made and the sauteed brussels sprouts. The brussels sprouts recipe was from a Sunset magazine which basically just says to strip the leaves off of the sprouts and then saute them with butter, bacon, onion and caraway seeds. We skipped the bacon but it still turned out delicious. The little hint of caraway was great. The magazine also has a variation that calls for sauteeing the leaves with butter, shallot, ginger and lemon zest. I made that version last week and it was also good. The smell of the ginger and lemon zest when it hits the pan is amazing.

We sampled a number of good wines:

Brooks 2005 Amycas White (Oregon)
Dona Paula 2005 Chardonnay (Argentina)
2006 Pierre-Marie Chermette Beaujolais Vieilles Vignes Cuvee (France)
Erath 2005 Pinot Noir (Oregon)

All of the wines were very tasty but, if I had to pick a favorite, I think I would choose the Brooks White. It was similar to an Alsatian riesling or gewurtztraminer, a tiny bit sweet at first but with a nice, crisp finish.

Check the gross yet delicious eyeballs I made for my company’s Halloween potluck. I stuffed sweet cherry peppers with toasted hazelnuts and goat cheese and then I cut circles out of basil leaves for the irises and used flattened currants for the pupils. Everyone at the party was impressed. Some people were too freaked out to try them but, those that did, thought they tasted great!

Tomorrow is my birthday! Although I’m not particularly sentimental when it comes to my birthday, I do like to squeeze in as much celebration (in other words, eating) as possible. Why not, right? Robert refers to this as my birthday “week” and it officially kicked off last Wednesday when his gift to me arrived via UPS.

On Friday, my friend took me out for lunch at Tulio. We were given fresh foccacia bread and olive oil to snack on while we perused the menu. I had the springtime risotto which was made with fresh peas and baby carrots and topped with pea vines and saffron cream. It was buttery and delicious and I can’t believe I managed to eat the whole thing. My friend had the asparagus soup and the spicy orrechiette with sausage, rapini and tomato sauce. Then, because I apparently needed more to eat, we split the pistachio semifreddo for dessert! Semifreddo is a partially frozen cream. It was really, really good. I was pretty much useless at work after that.

Last night was the celebration with the family. I selected El Greco for the event. Robert and I love their brunch but had never been there for dinner. We started off with a bunch of appetizers: complimentary olives and bread, baked idiazabal cheese with crostini, pears and serrano ham (delicious!), grilled asparagus with a sauce that I didn’t catch (also delicious), grilled baby octopus (chewy but not horrible) and sweet potato fries (crisp and sweet!). They also gave us a free serving of that evening’s appetizer special which was a puff pastry with cheese and spiced strawberries. It seemed more like a dessert than an appetizer but it was tasty and I’ll eat anything with strawberries. I won’t describe each of the entrees but here is a quick rundown of what was ordered: my mom had the clam linguine, my dad had the daily risotto (which had meat but, since they make it to order, you can order it vegetarian or even ask for other vegetables - good to know for the future), my brother had the salmon special, my brother-in-law had the duck, Robert had the Greek lamb burger and my sister and I split the bread salad and the crispy penne. The crispy penne is comprised of penne that has been cooked and then fried until, well, crispy. It is topped with a spicy tomato sauce with eggplant, capers, olives and tons of garlic. A good helping of ricotta salata garnished the dish. It was a big hit. It’s no wonder the website calls the crispy penne a local favorite. After all that great food and a couple of glasses of pinot grigio, I was a happy camper!

Hi everybody. Well, our Christmas dinner was a great success! As usual, we starting making plans for next year’s dinner over breakfast. Could be a Greek theme or we’re even toying with the idea of Chinese although none of really cook Chinese food that often (but that would make it even more fun!)

One of my Christmas gifts this year was “Seattle Kitchen” by the famous Seattle chef, Tom Douglas. I’m really enjoying reading it. The recipes, of course, all look great. Perhaps a bit labor-intensive for the home cook but very inspiring and certainly adaptable to my style of cooking. It also completely nails down Seattle cuisine - what other cookbook has an entire chapter devoted to the art of bento and another all about crab? The best part about the book, though, is Tom’s guide to shopping in Seattle and all of the little asides about our fresh seafood and produce and wines and beers. It reminds me of why I love living here. Now, after reading through the book, I am dying to go to Mutual Fish for the freshest fish in Seattle and to seek out the little hidden places in Pike Place Market that I normally walk right on by. Just yesterday, thanks to this book, my friend and I went for pho at a little lunch counter neither one of us had ever noticed before. Perhaps next weekend, I will take a trip over to the Bainbridge Island winery for a wine tasting or maybe I’ll eat my way through the International District. One of my New Year’s resolutions is to cook with more fresh, local ingredients and this book will surely come in handy as my guide to Seattle’s great food!

Hi everybody! I’m over here at my parent’s house helping put together our Christmas Eve feast (actually, I guess you could say I’m avoiding helping by writing in my blog.) Our dinner theme this year is New Mexico! Everything seems to be running smoothly but, as usual, my mom is adding last minute dishes and throwing off our plans. Here is the menu as far as I know:

Appetizers:
Blue and Yellow Corn Chips with Salsa and Guacamole
Pickled Jalapenos and Vegetables
Pine Nut and Pumpkin Seed Crackers
Roasted Pine Nuts in the shell (from Robert’s aunt in New Mexico)

Main Dishes:
Sweet Potato and Chipotle Tamales with Red Chile Sauce
Carne Adovada with Flour Tortillas
Chicken Enchiladas with Green Chile Sauce
Spinach and Cheese Enchiladas with Green Chile Sauce
Anasazi Beans
Green Beans with Lime and Manchego Cheese
Green Salad with Oranges, Jicama and Pumpkin Seeds with Lime Vinaigrette

Our beverage selection includes Mexican beers, white sangria and red sangria. It should be a lovely dinner; I’ll be sure to let you know how it all turns out. Uh oh, it sounds like my absence from the kitchen has finally been noticed. Time for me to go. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

OK, so Thanksgiving was a couple of days ago and I’m just now getting around to writing about it. My bad! Anyway, this year was exciting because we celebrated Thanksgiving at my apartment for a change. This presented some logistical challenges, most notably having to rush the turkey straight from my mom’s oven over to my apartment before it cooled to the contamination point. I had a lot of cooking to do and, in typical fashion, stressed out way more than I needed to. I should have just trusted that dinner would be served 2 hours late, as it is every year, leaving me plenty of extra time to get organized. The menu:

Turkey with Gravy
Stuffing (cooked outside of the bird)
Mashed Potatoes with Red Chili
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Butternut Squash with Sage, Rosemary and Cider Glaze
Oven-Roasted Fennel, Brussels Sprouts, Carrots and Shiitake Mushrooms
Romaine and Radicchio Salad with Roasted Cauliflower and Hazelnuts
Pumpkin Pie (with a special Candied Ginger Layer)
Gewurztraminer and Red Zinfandel
Winter Beers

I think that covers it. Things that are important about this meal are that I made the red chili for the mashed potatoes and I didn’t mess it up (being from New Mexico, this task normally falls to Robert - the making it, not the messing it up) and that the butternut squash recipe was a new addition this year. It is actually a recipe meant for delicata squash and it comes from the Herbfarm, one of the Seattle area’s most expensive restaurants. Despite the problems associated with trying to split the cooking duties between two kitchens, it all worked out very well in the end. The meal was lovely. Robert was happy because he was able to drink more beers than normal since he didn’t have to drive anywhere. And, there was a ton of leftover stuffing which made me pleased (as though I can’t just make it any time I want.)

Next up, Christmas! I’m putting up my little tree today which will probably piss a bunch of people off because it isn’t even December yet. Scrooges! Speaking of red chili, our theme for Christmas dinner this year is New Mexican so I’m sure I’ll have lots to report on that in the coming weeks. Happy holidays!