Family in Florida

The past week we've had some family from Nathans side in town. They made the long trek from Michigan and Canada to indulge in some summertime weather and relax. The following photos will pretty much tell the story.





















Needless to say...we had an awesome time! We love having company come stay with us, but for some reason they all come in the winter. Guess they can't handle the heat! Haha

The First Artichokes of the Season

Monday = market day in Selami Çeşme!

So earlier this week despite a rather fearful sky, off I set. Would there be any signs of spring in terms of produce,  I wondered or was it still a bit early?

After all those carrots and potatoes, onions and leeks, it did the heart good to spy piles of  enginar or artichokes. These are a real treat here as the hearts, sold in plastic bags containing acidulated water to stop them discolouring, are beautifully cleaned and prepared on the spot ready for cooking.  They are graded and priced according to size.  The biggest and best today were 2.50 TL each: about £1 so not given away. Apparently these early ones are coming in from N. Cyprus ie where the climate is milder. Later the bayrampaşa ones will make an appearance and they are magnificent both in size and flavour. It is still very much early days.

anyone for artichokes?

Occasionally  I fly against tradition and buy the artichokes whole. Then I boil them and we eat them with a sharp vinaigrette of olive oil and lemon juice mixed with French mustard, sucking each leaf tip one by one, the heart the tantalizing jewel in the crown to be eaten with a knife and fork after pulling out the spiky choke.  It’s a bit of a process: this way is definitely not Turkish!

Turkish-style is zeytinyağlı or done in olive oil, filled with chopped potatoes, carrots, and peas. This is the mix you find everywhere and the veg is cubed. Or perhaps broad beans once they are in season which is any minute now.  I like this slightly different presentation that Alev Kaman describes in her book Modern Türk Mutfağı: instead of peas, there are little pearl onions, and  the potato is shaped into beautiful globes with the help of a melon scoop. A sprig of fresh dill sets the dish off perfectly and makes enginar an ideal starter. We find the taste just exquisite.

I also like the look of little hearts done in the same way when they are one of several meze. Big ones are better on their own. One of my friends rebelled against the traditional filling a couple of years ago and substituted shrimps instead! Which of course works very well but again, not Turkish.

Ingredients for Zeytinyağlı Enginar or Artichokes done in Olive Oil

Serves 8

8 artichoke hearts

2 carrots

2 potatoes

16 pearl onions

½  cup olive oil

2 tbsp flour

3 cups hot water

Juice of 1 lemon

4 sugar lumps

1 tsp salt

Sprigs of fresh dill to decorate

afiyet olsun!

Method

·         The artichoke hearts will discolour if left too long. Prepare the carrots: chop into small pieces and then using a melon scoop, scoop out balls of potato, trying to keep the rounded shape as well as possible. Peel  the onions and leave whole.

·         Pour the olive oil into the pan. Using a wooden spoon, add the flour and stir. Add the 3 cups hot water, salt, sugar, and lemon juice. When the liquid begins to boil, add the potatoes, carrot, onion and artichoke hearts. Cover the pan with lid. Cook for 30 mins on medium heat. Then lower heat and cook for a further 20 mins. Leave in the pan to cool.

·         To Serve: place the artichoke hearts on the serving dish and distribute the cooked vegetables in each.

·         Decorate with the sprigs of dill. Serve at room temperature.

Tips

·         I have seen nice little airtight bags of prepared rounds of  carrots, onions, and potatoes in the main supermarkets eg Carrefour, which would speed things up in the kitchen.

I don’t know how many of you can view this post. If you can, it is thanks to my sister Alison in California who is posting for me. The ban in Turkey is still on as I write. The advice I have been given is to hang on for the moment. Followers in Turkey may be able to see my blog/other blogspot blogs if they use an unblocking website first eg www.unblocked.org . Right now, I can’t comment on my own blog, I mean physically my comments don’t go through. But yours can! Hopefully the ban will be lifted very soon and we can all go back to our lovely blogging world.

The Junipero Cooking Club

On Tuesday, March 1, a group of 14 met in a Sonoma home with a good-sized (but not a professional) kitchen to celebrate an early Marti Gras by learning to cook foods from New Orleans: Shrimp Remoulade, Seafood Gumbo, and Bananas Foster. Our chef, and cooking instructor, was Stephen Viguerie, Kristin’s husband, a native of Louisiana who has the food of New Orleans in his blood. We paid a nominal fee to cover expenses and his time and effort. We got copies of the recipes and were invited to participate in the cooking to whatever extent we desired.

Southern food has held a special place in my heart from having lived in Durham, North Carolina for 20 years. I have eaten vast quantities of pork barbeque and deep fried hush puppies and cooked lots of southern dishes myself but have had very little experience with food from Louisiana which has an aesthetic and culture all its own. So this was my chance to learn.

I began with a Bloody Mary, garnished with pickled okra and a celery stick, which Stephen made for anyone who asked. I must say, a perfect way to start the evening. Many folks brought bottles of wine to share. There were also spiced pecans and crackers to stave off hunger.

The Gumbo process began with making a roux, a mix of flour and oil which cooks for at least 40 minutes until the mixture turns a rich brown without even coming close to burning. If it burns, you start over. That’s it.

While the roux was simmering, Stephen made his remoulade from scratch, whirling up his own mayonnaise in a blender and then adding the parsley and lemon juice once the mayo was done. He finished the dish by folding chilled cooked shrimp into the sauce and placing it on a bed of shredded iceberg lettuce.

When the roux was done, he added the trinity (onions, celery, and green pepper), various seasonings, stock made from shrimp and crab shells among other things, frozen okra and finally shrimp and crab meat and legs.

The Bananas Foster involved melting brown sugar in butter, adding bananas and rum, and setting the whole thing on fire. Pretty spectacular. Served over ice cream, it was so good.

A memorable dinner.

Watching Stephen work and having the chance to stir the roux and watch it change color was invaluable hands-on experience. He also offered excellent tips, such as adding Kitchen Bouquet to a recalcitrant roux and using frozen okra instead of slimy fresh.

I’m not saying that everyone can duplicate an evening like this. Kristin and Stephen put a huge amount of work into making it happen. But it’s worth considering. Can you hire someone to teach you and your friends something that all of you would like to learn? Can you gather in a regular home kitchen to make the food, drink some wine and eat together? Sounds like a great evening. I’d come.

Chili n' Pasta Stuffed Red Peppers : Creative Leftovers

I was at a loss the other day , as to what I wanted to make/eat .   I decided on some of my chili , as it was already made ...  and I was in the mood for easy !  While I was letting the chili defrost I thought I ask on my FB Food page , if anyone had a suggestion for a future blog post ....  " Something Stuffed " was the reply , and a light bulb went off !! I could use the chili to stuff some red peppers...   Hmmmmm what to use, i was not in the mood for the usual rice style....   Curly Pasta!!!  That would be perfect , and very filling.   So Rotini it was.  This is such a simple and easy recipe , and can even be prepared ahead of time , that I'm sure it will be used again ( Most likely soon!!! )  Also , a single one of these would make a great appetizer.

Ingredients required : 
I made way too much , this will easily make 12 halves.

4 cups of your favourite Chili ( Ill be doing a Chili blog post soon, stay tuned !! )
2 cups of dried rotini pasta
6 Red Bell Peppers ( or the colour of your choice )
Mozzarella , One slice per half.
Feta Cheese - One small cube per half ( Teaspoon sized )
Olive Oil
Sea Salt & Black Pepper
Basil

It all starts with a pot of chili :))  

Red Bell Peppers,  cut in half lengthwise , with the seeds removed ( a sharp knife and a spoon work well for this ) 

Boil, and drain the pasta as per the package, you can under cook it if you like, as it will be going into the oven for about 30 minutes.  Mix it well with the chili .  ( This shot is from the day after , it filled most of this pot ) 

Simply fill the pepper halves... 

You can add some fresh onions , or mushrooms ..  whatever makes you happy 

A little bit of Feta , and a 3/16" thick slice of Mozzarella , basil and S&P and into a 350F oven for 20 minutes ,  then 5 minutes ,  or so,  more on grill ( Keep an eye on it after the 20 minutes )  

Thats it!!  Its time to eat.  I had two halves for dinner,  one for brunch the next day .  

Ive been practicing my camera work , this is without a flash ,  what do you think ?? :)) 

Of course , there is always the option of skipping the red pepper altogether lol as I did for this midnight snack :))  I also switched out the Feta for cheddar and added a couple of dashes of Lea & Perrins .

There you have it ,  a Simple and Easy way  to be Creative with Leftovers...  or a great little Appetizer that can be made ahead of time.  If you have any comments or questions please follow the link below.
Happy Cooking!! :)

Tim Curry Reads "Journey to the Center of the Earth"

... to be found over at audible.com. You can hear the first chapter for free.

Yesterday morning I got an email from Audible announcing the release of Jules Verne's classic novel read by the wonderfully talented Mr. Curry. I'm certain I didn't even bothered to finish reading the entire email before I'd spent one of my Audible credits to buy the thing. In a twinkling, it was being downloaded to my Droid 2 and I spent my drive time yesterday listening to one of my favorite actors read one of my favorite authors. Sublime!

Oblique to the theme, my son is a big fan of the TV series Psych. He turned me on to a particular episode where Tim Curry plays a judge on a TV talent show who is getting death threats. Tim's character is an even more flamboyantly obnoxious version of Simon from American Idol and the results are hilarious. Here are a few, inadequate snippets.

"This car makes me want to weep and then die." LOL!

15 in 15

Well, I weighed myself again this morning. I cringed *again* when I saw what it said. Four years ago at our wedding, I weighted 10 lbs less. I know it is part of getting older, especially in women. And I know I don't eat the healthiest as I could. I have been battling this over the last year, trying different diets, workouts etc... I have gotten to 4-5 less, never more than that and always gain it back.

Then I started reading the book Reshaping it All by Candance Cameron Bure. You may know her as DJ from the tv show Full House. She is a Christian (just like her brother Kirk Cameron, Growing Pains and the movie Fireproof) and has struggled with weight a lot of her life. Her book is about how to loose weight with God's help and changing your attitude about how you view food.

Photo Credit: Celebrity Photos

So now I am inspired to really work on loosing this weight, especially before becoming pregnant. I want my body in the best possible shape for that, haha! *And for the hubby too* So now I have a new goal: 15 lbs in 15 weeks. I am going to try and eat mostly fresh food and cut way back on carbs and sweets/sugars. Drinks are what really get me too, so cutting back on drinks other than water will be key. I will be weighing in every week and keep track on here so you all can keep me accountable to actually loose it. I don't really want to post my actual weight, but I will be posting my weight loss each week. 

So starting this next week, 15 in 15 will officially be starting! Prayers would be appreciated!! 

Scheduled Love Making

ME: I'm ovulating

NATHAN: Ok, I'll come home between work and robotics and "bang" ya.

Scheduled sex just isn't as romantic. haha

Bad dog

This is what we woke up to this morning. Bad dog. She murdered and dissected her babies.

And The Beat Goes On

... with Peggy Noonan noting that our national debates about debt are now driven by math more than ideology.

The seemingly small thing is that the battles in the states, while summoning emotions from all sides, are not at their heart emotional. Yes, a lot of people are waving placards, but it's also true that suddenly everyone's talking about numbers; the numbers are being reported in the press and dissected on talk radio. This state has a $5 billion deficit; that state has projected deficits in the tens of millions. One estimate of New Jersey's bill for health and pension benefits for state workers over the next 30 years is an astounding $100 billion—money the state literally does not have and cannot get. The very force of the math has the heartening effect of squeezing ideology right out of the story. It doesn't matter if you're a liberal or a conservative, it's all about the numbers, and numbers are sobering things.

The Democrats, particularly the president, and the unions are fighting math.

(In a battle with Governor Chris Christie over benefits, the New Jersey) teachers union decided, in an epic political drama in which arithmetic is the predominant fact, to ignore the math.

Assume for a second that Wisconsin Governor Walker is the worst politician in the history of Man. Assume that he's incapable of making his point with the voters. It doesn't matter. Eventually, he will be replaced by a competent politician and the math will still be there. The Democrats can at best only find a temporary escape from defeat because the force of the argument is numerical, not ideological.

Baby Laughing Hysterically

A friend of mine posted this on Facebook, and I just had to share. I love this baby, I was laughing right along!

 

It's Time For A Musical Interlude

... and you can find it over at Secular Apostate's place.

Macarons! Macarons! Macarons!

S. Kenney - Macarons with Strawberry filling

Can you tell I am just excited times three!!??

I.did.it.  The impossible.  Macarons.  Yep. Little 'ol me!

S. Kenney - Macarons with Strawberry Filling

Are they difficult to make?  Well...... Sigh.....Double Sigh.  Yes and No.  It took me 3 attempts.  Once I realized what I was doing wrong the first couple of batches, it definitely got easier after working out the kinks.  

When we were in France last fall,  I mentioned the word "macarons" to the french family we were visiting.  I mentioned that outside of Paris, they are not that easy to find.  

At this moment, we were at a home 1 hour south of Lyon.  Our host family had a son who was leaving Paris on the train to meet us later that night.  

An absolutely flurry of phone calls ensued!  Their son, Pierrique, galloped across Paris, went to the La Durée Macaron shop in PARIS, and brought us two boxes of some of the finest macarons in the world by midnight that night.  

A mention about macarons produced these delights straight from Paris

Unbelievable act of international goodwill. Period.  Here began my macaron story...

S. Kenney - stiff peaks

S. Kenney - the ribbon stage

Basically, I was so overly concerned with the "ribbon stage" that you hear alot about in macaron world, that I over-folded the batter.  What happens when you overfold?  The batter oozes and spreads too thin.  The tops crack while baking.  At least mine did. 

Um....twice.  But, finally, this photo below shows a successful look.

S. Kenney - ready to go in the oven

 I think the best thing I learned was that I needed to let the macarons sit longer than 15 minutes on the cookie sheet.  Perhaps because it is more humid here in Texas, they needed more time to form that "skin" on top.  I think that helped them not to crack while in the oven.

S. Kenney - The foot!  The foot!  The foot!

 I think my kids and husband thought I had gone off the deep end.  Seriously!  I was obsessed.  I just HAD to make these morsels of divinity.  Forget helping with homework, forget laundry, and providing breakfast/lunch/dinner.  The dog probably roamed the neighborhood for all I knew.  


I HAD to get this!  The kids cheered me on and my husband was hanging over my shoulder by the 3rd batch.  It ended up being a true family effort.  


But....it's o.k. if all the credit goes my way.  They (the fam) will manage.  

S. Kenney - Macarons with Strawberry Filling

Who do I have to thank for inspiring this manic baking adventure in my humble kitchen last weekend??  This stunning blog at  Sprinkle Bakes.  I could not stop absorbing her photos and how absolutely perfect her macarons looked.  I just knew I had to try.  I had to be in the "macaron in-crowd". Life ceased for a day  as I prevailed in the kitchen.  I was so inspired by Heather's story of how she tackled these delectable morsels.  Macarons truly  represent  Haute Parisien couture in a cookie.

If you are destined to go off the deep end... And, if macarons are in your culinary future, here are the instructions from Sprinkle Bakes' blog that I followed. 

Shells: 
3/4 cup almond flour - I like Hodgson Mill
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 large egg whites, room temperature
1 pinch cream of tartar
1/2 cup extra fine sugar (Sarah's note: I couldn't find this so I put regular sugar in my blender)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line two baking sheets with parchment.
Sift almond flour and confectioners' sugar together 2-3 times. Set aside.

Whisk egg whites with a hand mixer until foamy.  Add cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form.  Reduce speed and gradually add extra fine sugar.  Increase speed and beat until stiff peaks form.

Sift flour mixture over whites with a fine sieve. Discard any lumps or coarse bits that remain.  

If coloring the batter, place a bit of gel food coloring on the end of a rubber spatula before you begin folding the mixture with it.  Normally powdered food coloring is used, but a small amount of gel does not disturb the batter.  I would not recommend liquid food coloring.  (Sarah's note:  I didn't have gel food coloring.  First I used liquid on a batch.  They did NOT turn out and this may be why.  Finally, I left out all food coloring)

Fold with a rubber spatula using short strokes at first.  The batter will be very stiff.  Use bigger folds once batter loosens.  When batter is ready, it should fall from the spatula in a thick ribbon. (Sarah's note:  I had to back off on folding the batter too much.  Its true.  If the batter is oozing out of the bag, you've over folded)

Transfer mixture to a piping bag.  Pipe 1 or 1 1/2" rounds on the parchment lined baking sheets. Let piped macarons stand uncovered for 15 minutes to form a crust.

Decrease temperature to 325 just before placing the baking sheet in the oven.  Bake pans one at a time for 10 minutes, turning halfway through. (Sarah's note:  I don't know if opening the oven door cracked my first 2 batches.  I changed my oven to convection and didn't open the door at all.  No cracking.)

Note: After first batch has baked, oven temp should be increased to 375 then decreased to 325 just before the 2nd baking sheet goes in.


Chocolate ganache filling 
4.5 oz. chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream


(Sarah's note:  I did make this ganache but the photos show the strawberry filling)  The ganache is delish.
Chop chocolate and place in a small bowl.  Heat cream on the stove-top until very hot but not boiling; pour over chocolate.  Mix until smooth.  Refrigerate until ganache is of spreading consistency.  Place a small spoonful of chocolate on one shell and top with a same-sized macaron shell.