around the holidays

Back from a wonderful Thanksgiving trip to San Diego. So much food! So much wine! I've been terrible about posting in here lately, but somehow, at this busy time of year, I've mostly left my camera sitting in the corner while I was busy enjoying myself. These things tend to happen around the holidays. Anyway, I'm back in San Francisco now and just starting to get warmed up to celebrate the next big holiday. I don't think it'll take too much effort- our neighbors across the street just put up their Christmas tree and I can see the lights from our window while I sit on the couch looking at cookie recipes in Martha Stewart's Baking cookbook. 

It's pretty nice. 

thanksgiving, napa-style

On Saturday, we had an early Thanksgiving in Napa with Daniel's parents and some friends. Because of all the eating that was planned, we took a late afternoon walk in the vineyards.

And then there was dinner.

It was a wonderful evening of food and wine.

Tomorrow we leave for San Diego first thing in the morning to spend a few days with my family. If I'm not back here before Thursday, I hope everyone has a marvelous Thanksgiving!

a pre-thanksgiving weekend

Thanksgiving! It's here, it's here!

Well...not quite. But it might as well be because I'm going to not one but two Thanksgiving dinners this weekend. I'm especially happy about this since I missed Thanksgivings 2009 and 2010 because I was in Paris. I celebrated the holiday with other American expats, but it wasn't quite the same- how could it be? So this year, I'm particularly looking forward to the festivities.

Tonight, I'm having dinner with neighbors who live just down the street and then tomorrow Daniel and I are driving up to Napa to have dinner with his family, since he's coming down to San Diego to spend Thanksgiving with my family. I'll be making this for both dinners  this weekend and I'm crossing my fingers that it turns out well. The holiday season is upon us- isn't that wonderful?


photo by Amanda Jane Jones

le croissant du jour

All of life is a foreign country.

                                                                                          -Jack Kerouac

for myself alone

Tonight was one of those nights where I cooked for myself alone. 

{kabocha squash}

{sliced, with olive oil, pepper, salt and fresh thyme}

{kabocha squash salad}

Normally I don't make salads for dinner. Daniel wrinkles his nose and looks at me as though I've served him rabbit food when I try, so I've mostly given it up- but not when I'm cooking for myself. When I was growing up, I thought the word salad was synonymous with lettuce. Now that I'm older and a little wiser (when it comes to salads, at least) I've realized how versatile salads can be. Not just greens, but all sorts of delicious treats that, if the salad is made right, play off one another to create a highly satisfying dish. It's a beautiful thing.

Kabocha squash salad with dandelion greens, pancetta, hazelnuts and pecorino romano, adapted from Suzanne Goin's Sunday Suppers at Lucques

1/2 cup hazelnuts

6 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon olive oil

2 lbs kabocha squash

1 tablespoon thyme leaves

2/3 lbs pancetta

3 tablespoons sherry vinegar

8oz dandelion greens

1/4 cups sliced shallots

1/4 lb pecorino

Preheat oven to 375 and toast hazelnuts on a baking sheet for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they smell nutty. 

While nuts are toasting, cut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Place squash, cut side down on a cutting board and use a sharp knife to remove the peel. Slice the squash into 3/4 inch wedges.

When hazelnuts are done, remove from oven and turn the heat to 425 

Toss the squash wedges with 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 teaspoons salt, some pepper, and thyme. Place the squash flat on a baking sheet (I lined 2 baking sheets with tin foil and sprayed the foil with Pam) and roast in the oven for about 30 minutes, until tender.

Meanwhile, cut pancetta into 2/3 inch slices. In a small bowl, whisk together the sherry vinegar, 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1/4 teaspoon salt. 

Place cleaned dandelion greens in a large bowl. Heat a large saute pan over high heat for 1 minute. Add the pancetta and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes until it is brown but still tender. Lower heat to medium, add the shallots and stir to combine. Remove the pan from the heat and add the vinaigrette to warm. Add the squash and the contents of the pan to the dandelion greens. Gently toss and taste for seasoning. 

Arrange the salad on a plate and use a vegetable peeler to shave some pecorino over the salad. Add hazelnuts.

Eat!

good to the grain

I love cookbooks. I also love checking out cookbooks from the library. Today, for instance, I went for an afternoon stroll and picked up Kim Boyce's Good to the Grain- I'd requested it at the Western Addition Library a few weeks ago and it had finally arrived.  I'm not much of a baker, but that's why the library offers me a perfect solution. I'd heard such glowing reviews of this book that I wanted to get a peek at it myself. It's a baking book with a bunch of recipes using whole-grain flours like barley and amaranth. Intriguing, no? Well, if you can consider muffin ingredients intriguing.


Sweet Potato Muffins from Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce

3/4 lbs sweet potatoes
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/2 stick cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup plain yogurt
6 large Medjool dates, pitted and finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with parchment and roast the sweet potatoes for 1-1 1/2 hours until they're tender when pierced with a fork. Set aside to cool, then peel and leave whole.
Lower the oven to 350. Rub muffin tins with butter
Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl, pouring back into the bowl any bits of grain or other ingredients that may remain in the sifter. In a small owl, whisk together the buttermilk and yogurt.
Add the butter and the sugars to the bowl of a standing mixer. Attach the paddle and mix on high speed until the butter and sugars are light and creamy, about 3 minutes. Using a spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl. Ass the egg and half of the sweet potatoes and mix on medium speed for about 1 minute, until thoroughly combined.
On low speed add the dry ingredients and mix until partly combined. Add the buttermilk mixture and mix until combined. Add the chopped dates, separating them over the surface of the batter so they don't clump together. Add the remaining sweet potatoes and mix until barely combined; there should be pockets of sweet potatoes in the batter.
Scoop the batter into 10 muffin tins using a spoon. The batter should be slightly mounded above the edge.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes,rotating the pans halfway through. The muffins are ready when their bottoms  are dark golden in color. Take the tins out of the oven, twist each muffin out, and place it on its side in the cup to cool. 

thursday, and a poem

I've been feeling a little melancholy this week, a little off-center. Sometimes this happens as the days get shorter and colder. Time seems to be dragging but at the same time it's disappearing too quickly. Not much to offer here today, so instead I thought I'd share a poem by April Bernard, who has a way with pensive, lovely words.

That's What I Said

It pricks the arms like poison,
knowing that some things, once chosen,
are yours and that meanwhile the night comes
much too soon this time of year.
There are things you will not be allowed to say.
You think them anyway, until they become you.
The two boys in shirt sleeves are in the street
again, skateboards balking
where the sidewalk buckles in geologic fault.
They seem mirthless, as they yell and fall
and the cold mist tries to veil them from passing cars.

Yesterday’s storm slammed the leaves to the ground.
Hiss, hiss, the tires go, against the scraps
of piano music, not Chopin today, from upstairs.
Someone tried to understand you once
and he’s dead, though not from trying.
Clunk, clunk, goes the landlady’s daughter,
trying out her new boots on the back stairs.

Things have narrowed to a point
and no gorgeous diction can get you out of it.
There’s just the flats of your feet,
willing each new step out of empty pockets
where change, keys, pens once rattled.
You threw them into the bushes on the next block
and then came home with the grey linings hanging
from your jacket like socks.
You forgot to check the mail
and when you opened the door
you brought the night in with you.

                                        - April Bernard

Photo: Rose & Crown

homebody

Sometimes, like on Wednesday nights, it's nice to be a homebody. 

{granola}

This evening, I watched X-Men: First Class in my pajamas and then made granola, and I loved it. It's already been a long week and my eyes are feeling heavy and ready for sleep. My apartment is warm and smells like cinnamon. It's not at all a bad way to end a Wednesday.


My granola recipe

3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup roasted, unsalted almonds, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup shelled sunflower seeds
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup apple sauce
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
pinch fleur de sel (to be sprinkled over mixture before baking)

Add:
1/2 cup chopped dried figs
1/3 cup chopped raisins

Heat oven to 375 degrees and line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Mix together all the ingredients in a large bowl EXCEPT the dried fruit. Spread the mixture over the baking sheet and toast in oven for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. The granola should turn golden brown, but watch carefully towards the 30 minute mark so as not to burn it. Remove the granola from the oven and leave to cool for 30 minutes, stirring again, and then add in the dried fruit.  Store in an airtight container in the freezer to keep the granola crisp for up to 1 month.

earthquake kits

This weekend was spent doing a lot of responsible, grown up activities. We went to the garden center to buy herbs. We reorganized our kitchen shelves. We went to the Container Store. We made earthquake kits.

{my earthquake kit}

Living in San Francisco, I've experienced my fair share of minor earthquakes but I never got around to putting together an emergency earthquake kit before. I think it's probably because as soon as I start to think about the idea of a terrible earthquake, I completely freak myself out and then quickly try to put it out of my mind. But after talking about it with Daniel last week, we decided that it was wantonly irresponsible to be so unprepared, so on Sunday we set about assembling our kits- ones for our cars and then one for the apartment.

This is what I put in the kit I'll be keeping in the trunk of my car:

• Swiss army knife
• flashlight
• batteries
• first aid kit
• energy bars (3)
• energy gel
• toilet paper
• waterproof matches
• socks
• water bottle
• thermal blanket
• parachute cord
• heat packs
• fire starters
• iodine tablets
• liquid soap
• 2 gallons of water
• 1 trash bag

We looked around in REI and saw that they had a couple of different emergency kits that you could buy, but they were really expensive and we weren't sure that all the things they included were necessary. Instead, I got a little plastic box with a handle at the Container Store and filled it with the aforementioned items. Everything packed up very neatly into the smallish box (except the big jug of water) and I do feel a bit more at peace knowing that I have these things organized and stored together in one place. I've heard it's a good idea to have some cash as well as copies of important documents and we also have a hand held crank radio, but all of those things we would probably add to the house kit rather than leave in our cars. Still, I'd be curious if anyone had any other suggestions for essentials to include in our kits? 

cozy friday

I've been rather lax about posting in here this week. Among other things, my parents have been in town for the past few days, so I've been busy spending time with them. As for this weekend, the forecast is predicting rain, so I'm predicting a lot of tea and warm clothes.

Here are a few links to start off the weekend. Hope you enjoy.