When people complain for five years, sometimes I listen

As you may know, I make a lot of different kinds of cookies. I pride myself on my cookie-making ability and I have received many compliments over the years. But I have this guy who lives in my house - he's kind of a picky husband type - and no matter what kind of cookie I make, we have this following exchange:

Zack: These cookies are great, honey!
Me: Thanks.
Zack: But you know what would be really great? If you could make kolacky (a type of czech cookies) like my mom does.

(In the interest of full disclosure, Zack would like me to point out that I may be exaggerating. But not that much). So this Christmas, I decided to bite the bullet and ask his mom if she would teach me how to make kolacky. She very happily agreed (she's super nice) and here are the results of the teaching.

First, she pulled out this card.


This doesn't look that informative. But onward we go. First you take a pound of butter. Yes, a pound. That's four sticks. If my dad is reading this, you may want to avert your eyes. I know how you feel about butter.


Then you add an 8oz package of cream cheese and cream it together until it's all mixed up smoothly. Zack's mom is really really good at this part. She doesn't use a mixer or anything! She uses a wooden spoon and that's it.

I might use a mixer next time. Don't tell.

Then you slowly mix in the salt, sugar and flour, still using just your wooden spoon. You want to do this in batches so that it all gets incorporated in equally and so that flour doesn't fly everywhere and it you in the face. Divide your dough into four equal balls.


Then roll each ball into a log.


Wrap it in wax paper and freeze it overnight.

When you take our your dough the next day, thaw it for a little bit, then you're going to slice it into disks like this.


Then you pinch each disk to make sure it's malleable and roll each disk into a ball. Put them on a cookie sheet and smush your thumb in each one so there's a little well for you to put filling it.

Filling! Zack's mom buys the Solo brand pie filling. It comes in a can. I would usually never even consider using canned pie filling (because I am such a food snob), but Zack's mom uses it and it tastes good, so phooey on me (she also used those premade cans of french fried onions on top of a casserole. I hated myself for liking it so much).

But I digress.

So, spoon a little bit of filling (we got cherry and raspberry) into each thumb shaped well in your cookie.


Then you bake them at 350 degrees for awhile. Zack's mom said to bake them until the bottom of the cookie is golden brown. This is hard to check. I'm guessing it's in the 10-18 minute range.

Once the cookies are out of the oven, roll them in powdered sugar! They're all done.


These taste AMAZING fresh out of the oven. I've only ever had them about three days old and cold before and I was never a huge fan. But Zack likes them cold. He's crazy.

Anyways, they are good but hard to pronounce. I just call them "czech cookies." That way nobody laughs at me.

I can pronounce it when someone else says it first and then imitate them, but I can't sound it out. This is especially funny when you consider that I teach kids how to sound things out for a living. Maybe I should bake cookies for a living instead.

Thanks, Margie for passing on the recipe! Yum yum.

Merry Xmas to all, and to all a good night

Merry Xmas! I promise to post more recipes next week. For now, enjoy spending time playing Rock Band with your teenage relatives, eating cookies and/or watching movies and eating Chinese food. Here's the view from my window:


Yes, I have an 18 inch fake tree. I can have a tree if I want! I'm a grown-up now. So there.

To be honest, I'm a little scared of having a real tree. We never had one when I was a kid. Well, we had a "real" tree, but it was the potted palm tree that lived in our house and eventually died. Such is your childhood when your parents are Jewish-Buddhist hippies.

In the spirit of the holidays, I'll leave you with my favorite family Christmas story. It's about my dad.

My dad does not like Christmas. He delights in nothing more than grumbling “Bah, humbug!” at people as they hang up decorations. So I was quite surprised one day when I walked in on my dad and my little sister watching the original “Miracle on 34th Street” on TV. “You hate Christmas. What are you watching this for?” I asked him. “Shhhh!” he said. “It’s a classic.” I sat down and joined them. It was almost the end of movie, and the big climatic scene where the lawyer, Fred Gailey, is proving that Santa Claus exists. The mailmen are dumping bag after bag of letters addressed to Santa Claus on the judge’s desk, and all of a sudden, I heard a sniff. I turned around to see my dad sniffling with tears in his eyes! Filled with shock and a huge desire to bust up laughing, I spit out, “Are you crying at a Christmas movie?” My dad cried out, “He’s just such a good lawyer!”

Have a great holiday weekend!

We wish you the happiest, the happiest

So this year, my friend Anna had swine flu on Thanksgiving Day and she didn't get to go home to her family for the big meal. Her very nice husband Alan cooked her a Thanksgiving meal at home, because he's so nice, but Thanksgiving for two is just not the same in my opinion. So, I decided to make a Thanksgiving dinner for the four of us - Anna, Alan, Zack and me! Here we all are, very holiday spirited.


This was a wonderful opportunity to cook all the food that my family doesn't like that I didn't get to make on Thanksgiving. Cornbread stuffing! Turnip gratin! Brussels sprouts with pancetta! Plus, I got to break out all my new wedding presents - plates, champagne flutes, serving dishes, etc. Here is all the food I cooked.


Yes, I cooked that much food for four people. I think I have problems.

I figured that this would be a good time to break out some recipes! I'm starting with dessert. I got to use my new tart pan (thanks, Jaclyn!).


Mixed Berry Tart

1/2 recipe tart dough (you can buy it premade from the store - frozen pie crust or puff pastry - I won't tell. Or judge. I'm nice now)
8 oz marcarpone cheese
1/4 cup light cream
powdered sugar
Berries of your choice! I did a mix of blueberries and raspberries

Push your tart dough into a tart pan (or a pie pan, that's okay too). Cover the dough with tin foil or parchment paper and fill it with pie weights or dried beans. This is so the dough won't bubble up when you bake it. Bake it at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes. Remove the weights and foil and bake it for another 5-7 minutes until it is golden brown. Let it cool completely.

Put your mascarpone (have you had this? It's like amazing Italian cream cheese) and cream in a bowl and whip it until it's stiff (insert your own joke here if you want). Add some powdered sugar to taste (that means add a lot if you want it sweet and less if you don't) and mix it in.

Spread the cream into the tart and place the berries on top. Sift some powdered sugar on top. If you have patience/time, put it in the fridge and let it set. If you don't (and God knows, I don't), just eat it!

Have a great holiday! If I have time, I'll put up some more holiday recipes fast!

Still in the holiday spirit

So, this year I have no money (whoops!). Luckily, I can make presents for the holidays, and as far as I can tell, people like them. Along with those salted chocolate caramels from last week, some lucky folks are also getting my own creation - Candy Cane Fudge.

I wanted something to compliment the chocolate candy - and maybe something festive looking. I may have gone a little overboard, but gosh darn it, I like it. This not a highbrow creation - there are marshmallows in it! And candy canes! And colored sugar sprinkles! But it tastes good.

Candy Cane Fudge

4 Cups mini marshmallows
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup butter (although I just realized I used an entire stick last time - whoops)
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
12 oz. white chocolate chips
1 tsp. vanilla
10 candy canes, crushed (I like to put them in a ziploc bag, press the air out and whack it with a hammer. I like any cooking project where I get to use a hammer)
Red and green sugar for sprinkling

Combine marshmallows, evaporated milk, butter, sugar and salt in a large pot.

Cook and stir until it comes to a full boil.

Boil for 5 minutes (exact) over medium heat, stirring constantly. Try not to let it burn.

Remove from heat and add white chocolate chips.

Beat until chips are melted.

Add about half of your crushed candy canes and mix it in. Pour into a greased pan (I used a 9.5 inch pie plate for the first batch and a kind of sheet pan that was on the small size below.)


I liked it. You can use whatever you want - I like it to spread out so it's kind of thin, but you can use a smaller pan if you want it thicker.

Chill in the fridge until it's firm enough to cut (give it a few hours at least). After that, you don't have to keep it chilled - it will be okay at room temperature.


Happy Holidays!

Happy Hannukah!

Are you tired of the same old thing? Bored with regular latkes? Well, then hop on over to the sweet potato aisle of the supermarket and jazz things up a bit. I have made some absolutely delicious latkes made with not plain old russet potatoes but beautiful orange-y sweet potatoes. My world will never be the same.

Now, with latkes, I never know how many potatoes equal 1 pound, so the ratio tends to get messy. But latkes are fried potatoes that you put sour cream on! They're going to taste good. Don't stress.

Sweet Potato Latkes

1 pound sweet potatoes (I used many many more than this)
1 onion - at least (if you like more onions, add more. If you like less, add less)
1/3 cup flour
1 tsp salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
vegetable oil (or canola if you want to be heart healthy) for frying.

Peel your potatoes and skin your onion. Grate your potatoes! Grate your onion! If you have a food processor, this will be super easy and if you don't, well it will take a little longer. Use a box grater. People have done it for thousands of years and you can too!

Mix all the ingredients together (except the oil) and you've got your latke batter!


Heat your oil over moderately high heat (you want it hot, but not smoking). Drop about 1/4 cup of batter down. That's one latke. Do that a few more times - I wouldn't do more than 3 or 4 at a time or your pan will get overcrowded and the pancakes won't brown (which is lame). When they get brown on one side (give it a couple minutes and then cheat and check by lifting one up with a spatula), flip it to the other side. Let that side get brown and then remove it from the heat and lay it on paper towels so that the excess oil drains off.


You can keep them warm in the oven or just eat them right away! Serve with sour cream and applesauce. You can make your own applesauce if you have a food mill. I'll get to it on another post.

No more failure candy

If you were around me the week before Thanksgiving, you probably heard me complain about my candy making skills quite a bit. I was all set to show you how I can make candy like a pro (not that I've ever done it before, but I own a candy thermometer now, so look out world, here I come). I made a caramel base and poured it into a pan and waited for it to set. And set it did - like a freaking rock. Needless to say, I was crushed.

I tried to call it toffee and play it off (if I've learned anything from Top Chef, it's that you have to pretend that you meant to do whatever your dish ended up as all along - don't say "oh, I meant to do this but I failed." The judges hate that), but deep down, I knew that I had failed to made caramels successfully. They tasted like failure. Deep depressing failure. I tried to salvage them. I covered them in chocolate and nuts and broke it into pieces. But the pieces were too thick to happily bite through. I ended up smashing all the pieces with a hammer and baking them into cookies (which I called "failure cookies," but everyone seemed to like them anyways).

But if at first you don't succeed, try try again! So on Friday night, I decided to try again (I live a wild and crazy life here in New York City - I stay in on Friday nights and make caramels while I watch TV specials on Disney animation. I'm so cool). I made salted chocolate caramels - I found a recipe in an old issue of Gourmet magazine (RIP Gourmet). I figured that maybe the chocolate would help keep it from turning to bedrock. And it did!

Salted Chocolate Caramels - from Gourmet Magazine, 2006

2 cups heavy cream
10 1/2 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (no more than 60% cacao if marked), finely chopped (I used Ghiradelli chocolate chips - no chopping)
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces
2 teaspoons flaky sea salt such as Maldon (Becky gave me some as a wedding present! Yay!)
Vegetable oil for greasing

Line bottom and sides of an 8-inch straight-sided square metal baking pan with 2 long sheets of crisscrossed parchment (I just used one big piece. I'm lazy and economical).

Bring cream just to a boil in a 1- to 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan over moderately high heat, then reduce heat to low and add chocolate. Let stand 1 minute, then stir until chocolate is completely melted. Remove from heat.

Bring sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt to a boil in a 5- to 6-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Boil, uncovered, without stirring but gently swirling pan occasionally, until sugar is deep golden, about 10 minutes. Tilt pan and carefully pour in chocolate mixture (mixture will bubble and steam vigorously).


Continue to boil over moderate heat, stirring frequently, until mixture registers 255°F on thermometer, about 15 minutes (my candy thermometer said I was only at 175 degrees, but last time I cooked caramel, it got to "245" but then set like a rock. So I didn't bother following the directions this time. I think my thermometer is defective). Add butter, stirring until completely melted, then immediately pour into lined baking pan (do not scrape any caramel clinging to bottom or side of saucepan). Let caramel stand 10 minutes, then sprinkle evenly with sea salt. Cool completely in pan on a rack, about 2 hours.


Carefully invert caramel onto a clean, dry cutting board, then peel off parchment. Turn caramel salt side up. Lightly oil blade of a large heavy knife and cut into 1-inch squares.

Note: The caramels are very very soft. I was so happy I could cut them but they were actually almost too soft. After the two hours, I put them in the freezer for awhile to get it to more of a cuttable consistency. They are still soft now, but tasty! Next time, maybe I'll try to bump up the temperature a little more.

But they worked! Here they all, all wrapped up next to my "Don't Mess with Texas" mug (a present from Meredith).


And here's one perfect little square.


Be prepared to get some of these for Xmas presents! I can't eat all these by myself.

I love butchers

If you know me, you might know that I am a huge Julie Powell fan. She wrote Julie and Julia (did you see that movie? I love Meryl) and basically does what I do - she cooks, she blogs, she eats too much butter and has a very wonderful husband who is very well fed, but sometimes driven crazy by his wife. So when I heard that she had written a new book called Cleaving, I went right to the store and bought it (it came out on Tuesday but I didn't finish it until last night - I think that shows tremendous restraint on my part).

It's a little darker than her last book (okay, a lot darker). She writes about her affair (poor husband) and her world travels and most importantly, her apprenticeship at a butcher shop in Kingston, NY. If you don't like to read about animals getting methodically cut to bits and women cheating on their very nice husbands, don't read this book. But if you can handle all that, I enjoyed it a lot.

But this is not a book review! It's a cooking blog. All this was to say, I was inspired to go to my local butcher shop today and get some beef stew meat for dinner. The butcher cut it into nice chunks for me. If you only ever buy meat from the grocery store, get out and try a butcher immediately. It tastes better. That's all you need to know.


Here's how to make a lazy beef stew -

Season your meat with salt and pepper. You could also use other seasonings - I threw some Trader Joe's 21 spice salute or something on it for variety. Brown it in a few tablespoons of hot oil (I used olive oil) and remove to a plate.

Brown some vegetables in the oil - I threw in whatever was in my fridge - onions, carrots, garlic, celeriac (kind of like celery, but looks like a potato), and an apple (I have so many apples).

Pour in some red wine (not too much, about a cup or so) and bring it to a boil, scraping up all the yummy brown bits on the bottom of the pan.

Add the meat back into the pot, enough beef stock (or chicken stock or water - whatever you have) and some root vegetables (you know potatoes and such - I added some potatoes and sweet potatoes, cut into chunks). I added some tomato paste as well, but normally I'd add some canned tomatoes. But I ran out of those. Whoops.

Bring the whole thing to a boil, then turn the heat down and cover the pot. Simmer for an hour or so. Taste it to see if needs more salt or pepper. Eat on the couch while watching Parks and Recreation.

I get your message loud and clear

So, I was in California last week. It was beautiful weather, good food and constant berating about how I don't blog enough. I get it! Someone is actually reading. I will update - now.

I've had this one in the works for awhile. Some of you may know that I grew up with hippie vegetarians. This meant that while we ate a lot of tofu and salad and pesto pasta (my brother and sister's favorite food at various times), we never had things like pot roast or meatloaf. The first time I ever ate meatloaf I was 25 years old and I made it myself. It was a classic recipe and I didn't care for it - the flavor of ketchup was too strong and it seemed like a weird flashback from the '50's.

But then! I came across this Italian version of meatloaf from the Gourmet Cookbook (one of my favorites - Ruth Reichl is my idol). It was amazing! It's like a giant meatball with hints of lemon and fresh parsley. It was tricky but I've already made it again since I took these pictures.

Polpettone! From the Gourmet Cookbook

4-6 slices Italian bread, crusts discarded (I used garlic focaccia - it had roasted garlic cloves in it and was amazing)
1 cup whole milk
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground veal (I've also used 2 pounds of turkey instead of red meat. Works great)
2 eggs, beaten
3 oz thin sliced pancetta, chopped
3/4 cup grated parmesan (use the good stuff - if you use the kind in the green Kraft can, I will come to your house and cry)
1/3 cup chopped parsley (flat leaf!)
1 1/2 tsp lemon zest
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 Tbs olive oil
1 cup dry wine wine (I've been using "honey moon" from Trader Joe's - it rocks)

So! Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Soak the bread in milk for 10 minutes.

Combine the meat, eggs, pancetta, cheese, parsley, zest, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Squeeze the bread (one handful at a time) to remove the excess milk - not all of it, just some and chop it, then add it to the meat.

Mix it up! Use your hands until it's combined but try not to overmix it. Make it into a weird football shape.


Heat the oil in a skillet over high heat. Brown the football shaped meat mixture on all sides. You may have to use two spatulas to flip it - this thing is big. Transfer it to a plate. Mine broke into pieces and I cried, then mushed it back together. So the meatloaf is now on a plate and the skillet is full of yummy brown bits and fat and stuff.


Pour the wine in the skillet and bring it to a boil for a minute.


Stir and scrape the pan so that all the brown bits get unstuck to the bottom. Return the meatloaf to the skillet (mine broke again and I cried again. Zack said it would still taste good and that I should calm down. He was right). Bake the meatloaf in the skillet for about 45 minutes.



Transfer the meatloaf to a plate again! It's worth it, I promise. Cover it with foil (loosely) for about 10 minutes.

Pour the pan juices through a fine mesh sieve (this would normally scare me off - but I did it!) into a small bowl. Cut the meatloaf into slices and serve with the pan juices.


I served it with mashed potatoes and roasted fennel and sauteed watercress. I went a little overboard, but it was a really nice meal. You should make it! I messed it up a bunch of times and it turned out great. Plus, the second time I made it, it was much easier.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sorry I've been out of touch - I've got lots of pics waiting - Italian meatloaf and homemade applesauce and sweet potato latkes! I'll get to it soon, I promise.


Have a great turkey day!

Eat your vegetables

I wasn't going to post anything, but I was dicing up this butternut squash -


- and damn, it smells good. It's almost citrus-y and sweet and the color is so gorgeous. I've been reading Marcella Hazan's memoir (you know, the Italian cooking lady on PBS with the lame arm? Anyone?) and she talks about how Italians don't eat vegetables because they're good for you or because the government says so, but because they taste so good (the vegetables grown in Italy, not the crap you get in American supermarkets - I'm paraphrasing here, but that's the general idea).

If you're so inspired, go get a locally grown butternut squash and make this. It's delicious, I promise. And watch PBS.

A legendary soup

You may have heard me talk about how much I love Julie Powell (the author of Julie and Julia). In her book, she talks about making Julia Child's Potage Parmentier (that's potato leek soup for you non-French speakers) and how great it is. So I figured I should give it a try. I realized I had five leeks and a bag of yellow potatoes in my fridge, so this seemed like a good day to go for it.


It is very simple (so says Julie Powell), which doesn't mean easy. You have to peel a bunch of potatoes (about 1 pound) and then slice or dice them up. Then you slice the same amount of leeks and wash them really well in a colander (mine were from my CSA box and were completely covered in dirt).

Then throw them in a pot with 2 quarts of water (or chicken broth - I did a mix of both) and one Tbs of salt - simmer them over moderate heat for about 45 minutes, partially covered (I balanced the pot lid over one side of the pot and my little espresso maker - I am such a professional). Once the vegetables are tender, it's time to blend them up.

Julia asks that you don't use a food processor or a blender - she wants you to use a food mill or a fork. I did just get a food mill (another wedding present - woot!) but I was too lazy to set it up. My immersion blender just called out to me, "Lena! Use me! I am so easy to use and already out of the box!" So I pureed about half of it with the immersion blender and left some chunks of potato in tact (as a sort of compromise with the ghost of Julia Child). Then I adjusted the seasoning and adding some cream (Julia says! She wanted me to add 6 Tbs, but I added about half that in deference to my girlish figure).


It's good - very filling, but it's not a wow. It's kind of bland for my taste - but it would be a good first course type thing - just not a whole meal.

I can't stop eating these

When I got a brand new oven, one of the first things I thought was "Score! Now I can make those candied pecans that Bryn makes for me!" I love these things. They are addictive. I just keep popping them in my mouth, but you can also use them in a salad (Bryn uses them in salad with blue cheese, pear, avocado, green onion and an oil and vinaigrette dressing - which is great).

Candied Pecans - adapted from Bryn Kahn


Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 lb whole pecan halves
1 egg white, room temperature
1 tablespoon water

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. In a bowl, mix together sugar, salt and cinnamon and set aside (normally in baking, I skip this step. But I did it this time because it's important to get the sweet/savory taste correct).
3. Beat egg white and water together until just frothy, not stiff (I just used a whisk and beat it a few times by hand. It's easy - don't let it scare you). Add pecans and stir until well coated. Add sugar mixture, mixing pecans until well coated.
4. Spread evenly onto a foil-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and separate pecans as they cool. Store in a tightly closed container.

Eat until your mouth feels weird from eating too many nuts. That is an unintentionally dirty sentence. My subconscious mind is in the gutter.

I'm pretty sure that Staten Island isn't really a part of New York City

So, like four years ago, my then-roommate and gay husband Josh said "Oh my god, I just went to Staten Island and had this amazing pizza, it's at this place called Joe and Pat's. You have to go there!" And I said "Dude, it's in Staten Island. I'm so never going to go there." But little did I know.....

This morning, I woke up at 5:15am to do three shows in Staten Island (oh the glamorous life of a professional actress) and by 11am, we had done two shows and were freaking starving. I dug through the back of my brain and said "we have to go to this pizza place!" Luckily, my fellow cast member had an iPhone and after some intensive googling of "famous pizza Staten Island" and me sifting through names, going "not it, not it, not it," we finally stumbled across the name "Joe and Pat's." Eureka! My brain rejoiced. That's it! The iPhone told us that it was a mere nine minute drive from the school we were at, so off we went.


We started with an arugula salad. It was about six times the amount you see below.


It was really great - fresh arugula and cherry tomatoes with shaved Parmesan and vinegar. I could have skipped the raw red onions though. It was a surprising salad for a pizza place - we were expecting some iceberg lettuce with thousand island dressing - this was awesome. We also got practically a full loaf of warm fresh baked bread. Yum!

Then we had pizza.


One slice pepperoni, one slice cheese. It was thin crust, which I wasn't expecting. I am not a fan of thin crust in general but this rocked. I feel like some thin crust pizza is stiff and snooty (you know, all pretentious with a dollop of cheese and fresh basil), but this was like if you took an authentic New York slice and then slimmed it down. It was crispy but still malleable. It was manly thin crust. I loved it.

Is this worth a trip to Staten Island? Maybe not, but if you're already there, well go for sure.

I love my kitchen stuff

The great thing about getting married (along with vowing to spend the rest of your life with somebody awesome and having a great big party) is that people give you really cool stuff! Now I'm going to let you in on a little secret - our apartment isn't big enough to hold all of our cool new stuff, so some of it is piled up in a corner next to the couch. But every once in a while, I get frustrated that I have all this stuff that I've wanted for ages that I'm not actually using and I break something out of the corner. Today that something was my immersion blender.



Last week at Vesta, Joe had some awesome squash soup and I said, "hmmmmmm, I could make soup." I happen to have 3 acorn squash (not to mention about 1,000 apples) sitting on my counter, courtesy of my CSA, so I pulled a recipe from Martha Stewart/Emeril Lagasse off the internet and decided to give it a shot.

Acorn Squash Soup

3 acorn squash, halved, seed removed
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 carrots, chopped
1 Granny Smith apple, cored and chopped (I used two small random green apples in my fridge - the ones that were going a little soft and I didn't want to eat)
1 onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon allspice
4 cups low sodium chicken stock (you could use vegetable broth or water - but don't unless you're a vegetarian)

Preheat oven 400 degrees F.

On a baking sheet, roast the acorn squash, cut side down, until soft, about 45 minutes. Scoop out the squash flesh and set aside.

In a soup pot, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Saute carrot, apple, and onion until soft. Season with ginger and allspice. Add the squash and the chicken stock. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes (I added about 1/2 tsp of salt as well - I just don't think it's cooking if you don't add salt).

Remove the pot from the heat and puree with a hand-held immersion blender. Yay! I got to use my blender. My sister thinks these blenders are evil, but that's just because she stuck her finger in the blade part and turned it on. Seriously. But don't let that turn you away from trying the soup.



It was very good - simple, but not bland. It's also creamy without having anything bad for you in it - which is the holy grail of cooking, as far as I'm concerned. I served it with a little salad - it was a great fall meal.

This is an administration I can support

Lin-Manuel Miranda (creator of In the Heights) performs a hip hop song about Alexander Hamilton at the 1st ever White House Poetry Jam for the Obamas. It's like my inner American history nerd self and my musical theater nerd self and had babies that were in love with Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Happy Almost Halloween!

I am a big fan of Halloween. Not so much "grown up" Halloween, where you wear sexy clothes and go to big parties and drink a lot, but "kids" Halloween, where you carve pumpkins and eat a lot of candy. I'm a six year old at heart.

I went to the Farmer's Market this afternoon (the lines are short in the pouring rain) and got a pumpkin. I decided to make roasted pumpkin seeds (or pepitas in Spanish), and after I scooped out all the seeds, I figured, what the hell -


- and I made a tiny Jack-o-lantern. I don't have a front porch like at my old house, so I'm not quite sure what to do with it, but that's okay.

Anyways, on to the seeds. It's super easy. Just scoop them out and put them in a bowl.


Then put them in a colander and rinse them. Pick all the pulp off. This is tedious, but I really like it. I love really repetitive food tasks, like rolling cheese balls or stuffing mushrooms or kneading bread. I find it very soothing.

So, once all the pulp is gone, spread them on a baking sheet. In an ideal world you'd let them dry out over night. But life just isn't like that sometimes. So I poured a little olive oil on them, sprinkled them with Lawry's Seasoning Salt and stuck them in the oven (375 degrees for 15 minutes). Here they are!


Yum. Yay for fall. Go out and have a happy halloween! Oh and in case you're curious, I'm dressing up as Joan Holloway from Mad Men.

My favorite restaurant in Queens

The problem with learning how to cook is that it makes you not want to go out to eat anymore. "What's the point of going out to eat," you will ask yourself (or your husband will ask you), "when you can make better food at home for less money?" And sometimes the answer is "I can't stand being in my stupid messy house for another second" and then you have to go out just to save your sanity.

When that happens to me these days, I almost always want to go to Vesta. Vesta is a great place that is walking distance from my house (okay, it's kind of a long walk, but I can drive there and there is always parking) and has delicious food that I can actually afford. I like it so much that I rented it out for the rehearsal dinner for my wedding. If that's not a vote of confidence, I don't know what is.

I went there for brunch today with Zack and the in-laws. I forgot to take many pictures, but Joe was so pleased with his soup, I took a picture of it.


It's butternut and acorn squash soup - it was creamy and flavorful. Yum!

What else can I say about it? I've had so many great meals there - fried eggs with asparagus and polenta, pizza with potato, panchetta, apples, arugula and goat cheese, creamy amazing pasta with cauliflower. Plus, you can get a variety of wine by the shot, glass or bottle! It is awesome (I love the blanc de blanc).

I will admit - I've had a few small service issues the last few times I've been there. Today we waited almost 40 minutes for our brunch (but the owner came over and personally apologized for the wait). But I will continue to go back over and over again.

Oh, and order the Baby Jesus cake. You will not be disappointed.

These brownies might kill you

So, last Friday, I was out with my friend Danny and he mentioned that he wanted to make brownies, but the kind with hard chocolate across the top and a graham cracker crust. Oh, and he didn't want them to be too "cake-y." I didn't really have a recipe in mind, but I wanted to be accommodating (I have a foodie reputation to uphold here) and so I adapted my regular brownie recipe to fit his demands.

And I came up with this:



1 cup graham cracker crumbs (I like to take graham crackers, put them in a sealed plastic bag and whack them with a hammer or a fork or something - or use your hands)
3 Tbs sugar
1/4tsp salt
1/2 stick butter, melted

Editing note: Danny said that there was too much graham cracker mixture - so maybe make 3/4 of a cup of crumbs....and the same amount of butter probably wouldn't kill you.

Combine the ingredients above and press into the bottom of you 9x13 baking dish. Set aside.

1 pkg. (8 squares) BAKER'S Unsweetened Chocolate
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine
5 eggs
3 cups sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1-1/2 cups flour

Melt chocolate and butter in small saucepan on very low heat, stirring constantly. You can also zap it in the microwave. Do it 30 seconds at a time. Take it out and stir the chocolate after each time until it's melted. Cool slightly.

BEAT eggs, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with a hand mixer. Add chocolate mixture; beat on low speed until well blended. Gradually add flour, mixing until well blended after each addition. Spread into greased 13x9-inch baking pan.

Bake for 35 minutes at 375 degrees.

While the brownies cook -

1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup chocolate chips (I like bittersweet, but milk or semi sweet would be good too).

Another note: I usually use Mexican chocolate here - it is intensely sugary and amazing. But Danny was worried that he wouldn't be able to find it in the Brooklyn supermarket. So I adapted.

Heat the cream over low heat until it's hot but not boiling. Pour on top of the chocolate chips. Let sit for a minute and then stir until it's smooth.

Spread the chocolate/cream mixture over the finished brownies. Put in the fridge until the chocolate hardens. Cut into pieces and serve.

Danny very nicely sent me back the photos that you see and this email:

So I made it tonight and here's what I've figured out --

1) That's a ton of sugar.

2) I think I put too much graham cracker crust in the bottom, or my pan isn't that deep and stuff overflowed a bit

3) I cooked it for 45 minutes and I still don't think it's super done, but I'd rather it be a little undercooked as opposed to overcooked.

4) It's effin' delicious.



I think that's a check in the victory column, don't you?

What's better than hockey on a Sunday morning?

I'm pretty sure the answer to that is: pancakes.

My hockey game was canceled today, so Zack and I woke up and made pancakes (well, I made them and he played computer games. But he was there). They were easy, delicious and made from things I already had in my fridge. No freakin' Bisquick for me.

Ruth's Pancakes - from the Gourmet Cookbook (RIP Gourmet)

note: I halved the recipe because I didn't have enough butter. This is the original recipe.

1 cup whole milk (oh and I actually used buttermilk because I was out of milk in general - but that worked just fine)
2 large eggs
3 tbsp plus 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 stick butter, melted and cooled
1 cup flour
4 tsp. baking powder
4 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt

Whisk together milk, eggs and t tbsp. vegetable oil in medium bowl, then whisk in butter. Stir together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in another medium bowl. Whisk in egg mixture until just combined.

Heat a nonstick pan over moderate heat and add 1/2 tsp oil until it's not but not smoking. 1/3 cup batter = one pancake, so slap about three down and flip when bubbles appear on surface (about 2 minutes). Flip and cook for another minute, then serve with maple syrup.

We ate them before I took any pictures. But they were really good. And now I'm not as sad about hockey being canceled. Win-win.

Oh Paris, I am not doing you justice

So, I realize that I did not take enough pictures while I was in Paris - which is weird because I took a few hundred of them! But where are the pictures of crusty fresh baked bread? Of handmade chocolates or stores filled with cheese? These were some of my favorite things in Paris, but I did not take pictures of them.

Sometimes I got embarrassed taking pictures of my food in fancier restaurants. It's hard enough to be the young American girl who doesn't speak French (at ALL) and feels intimidated. But the thought of being the young American taking pictures of everything she eats like some sort of crazy person kind of pushed me over the edge.

Plus, I was on my honeymoon! I was enjoying myself! Reveling in the excitement of my brand new marriage and all that jazz. So I don't have as many pictures as I would like. Bear with me. Use your imagination.

One of my favorite meals in Paris was the picnic that Zack and I had in the gardens at Versailles. They are just beautiful.


We sat in a little enclave with a fountain and benches and feasted on a freshly baked baguette, two kinds of cheese (I would tell you what they were if I knew - the guy at the fromagerie picked them for us. All I know is that one was goat and one was cow) and a half bottle of wine (that we got in a grocery store for a few Euros. It had a screw top, but it was delicious). Look how happy Zack looks.


I'm pretty content as well.


On to the palace at Versailles!


Now that it's really fall in New York, I want to be back in Paris even more. It's cold here! And I can't just eat cheese with gay abandon in my regular life. Oh well.

Some people fast today

But not me. As my friend Gina said last night, "I'm against religion trying to dictate what and when I can eat." Plus, who can abstain from eating while looking through pictures of yummy food from Paris? Oh, Paris. I want to go back to that time (three weeks ago) when I was in Paris and didn't have a cold.

So, Zack and I spent a lot of time in the "Jewish Quarter" in Paris. It doesn't seen especially Jewish at this point in time, but it's a cool place to be. Zack really liked the Centre Pompidou - a modern art museum.


But of course, I really just wanted some falafel. Every book I read, every friend I talked to (ok, really just Meredith, but I trust her) said that there was this one awesome falafel place in Paris and gosh darn it, I was going to go there. One day when we were close by, it starting pouring rain, so we made a break for it and ran for the door.


This place was a little different than the other places we went to. First of all, there were plastic plates and paper napkins.


But that just gave the food a chance to outshine the decor. We started with some eggplant in tomato sauce.


It was warm and spicy. I love eggplant. Zack refused to eat falafel (because he's crazy), so he had schwarma.


He liked it. It was kind of like meat stew in a pita. I had the falafel.


It was worth the trip! Crispy on the outside, warm and chewy on the inside - and about as big as my head. I could not finish it - despite my best efforts.

Seriously, this is a not to be missed experience. If you go to Paris - go to L'as Du Falafel.