A nod to a few of my senses today.

Cookbooks, good ones, for me, fill all my senses. I love to page through them, look at the pictures, read the background stories, imagine how the food will look, taste and smell, and if I s.t.r.e.t.c.h this, how it will sound (?) OK, maybe not all my senses. But you get the idea. Here are my favorites right now (but honestly, I love many more than this, my moods change with the seasons...):

Bittersweet, Alice Medrich
Fast Food My Way, Jacques Pepin
Mexico One Plate at a Time, Rick Bayless
The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, Judy Rodgers
Savoring the Seasons of the Northern Heartland, Beth Dooley & Lucia Watson
Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen, Lidia Matticchio Bastianich
Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child
Casual Cooking, Michael Chiarello
The Gourmet Cookbook, Ruth Reichl
The NY Times Cookbook, Craig Claiborne


And two nods to my sense of smell, as I've said many times, I am a bath products fan (freak). Here are some of my favorite bath gels:

Molton Brown Invigorating Suma Ginseng
Kiehl's Cucumber
Naturopathica Bamboo Scrub
Agraria Lavender
Molton Brown Seamoss
Neutrogena Rainbath
Afface Almond
Naturopathica Zesty Lime
The Sea
Bulgari Au Te Vert


And fragrances, my favorites shift with the seasons here too:

Cartier Must de Cartier
Frederic Malle Parfum de Therese
Lanvin Arpege
Clinique Aromatics Elixir
Jean Paul Gaultier Classique
Serge Lutens Un Lys
DSH Bourbon Vanilla
Floris Cefiro
Chanel Bois Des Iles
Cacharel Eau D'Eden

I most definitely should go for a walk today, but blech, it's so dreary out there. I'm feeling lazy today. I'm more likely working up to a bath, therefore the musings on favorite scents. So predictable.

Orechiette with broccolini made a lovely lunch, I'm always glad for leftovers like that. I have lamb chops in the refrigerator for tonight. I'm thinking of keeping them simple, probably broil them with salt and pepper, and serve them on top of a pile of arugula/romaine salad. Oh, maybe I'll do a killer Caesar dressing, hmmm, with a big toasted crouton to soak up all the juices. Get an anchovy/garlic/lamb thing going, definitely. Just don't tell Nathan - he's been requesting lamb chops, and he's pretty open to salads lately, but he'd balk at anchovies, as any kid (and plenty of adults) would. Oooh, I'll be giving that some more thought, see what I can come up with.

As a total aside, I just checked Susie's blog, and she had this awesome picture on it (Cory took

it), so I had to snag it for mine. As I've said before, she rocks! When I "told" her (IM) that I'd posted it here, she said, what have you got me kicking? Arugula? Choux pastry? Nice choux(s) Suz? Ha! No greens or pastry, however I did post her (grandma's) chili recipe just today, in the comments for the January 24th entry. Check it out, it was simple and delicious. Woo hoo!

When I picked Nathan up from school, he clilmbed in the car and said, "I don't feel right." Got home, took his temp, he's got a low-grade fever and a headache. Poor little guy. So no basketball game tonight, which he's very sad about. Sigh. And as a result, he's of course not one bit into eating dinner tonight, which I prepared early thinking we were going to basketball. So he's resting, and I ate alone (that's me, alone, ha), just me and my lamb chop. And Sigmund, salivating all over the place, because even he, with his old-dog dulled senses (aww), can smell the fabulousness of a crispy, juicy broiled lamb chop. Man it smells good in here. Had it on top of what in essence is a Caesar salad without the cheese (dressing recipe in comments, below). Nice combo. I didn't season the lamb chops with garlic so I could do major garlic in the salad, knowing I would eat the two together (as you can see, I even drizzled a dab of dressing on the chop). With a glass of leftover Sanford Pinot Noir from last night. I'm telling you... Fucking fantastic, I have to say it, I can't help myself. I do love lamb. Almost as much as I love to swear...

Here's hoping little Nate feels better. Time to go see him through his LOAD of homework, and hopefully he can go to school tomorrow. Have a good night.

In the name of moderation, I have an appointment with this piece of equipment today. A Russian kettlebell. I was introduced to Russian kettlebells, or KBs, by my stepmom, Susanna, who I believe was introduced to them at her health club. She raved a bit about them, so I looked them up on the web, and came upon this Russian Kettlebells website (link also at right, under Health). It's a somewhat freaky website, but really fun too, and the information is fantastic. KBs are one-stop weight/flexibility/cardio shopping, and fun and challenging to use. They're also, it turns out, rather chic, according to an article in Vogue magazine featuring them that my sister-in-law Valerie pointed out to me a few months ago. My only problem with them is I don't use them often enough. Ha. I've travelled a few times with two small 4 kg KBs, one in each suitcase, but John's pretty much forbidden that now since one of my suitcases exceeded the airline's allowed weight limit and I had to repack my bags in front of the skycap. As you can tell from the photo, these things look like bombs, and the whole bomb-airline thing doesn't work so well. Also, they make my luggage too heavy for me to hoist into the car or off the luggage carousel, which means John has to do it, and he doesn't particularly appreciate tossing around my 60-lb. suitcase. Which is SO too bad, because they are the PERFECT hotel room exercise. Once you nail down the basic techniques, you can have yourself gasping for breath and pouring sweat in a short period of time. A very nice way to balance out the usual travel over-indulgences. But, I'll have to stick to using them here, in my own home, to balance out my every-day over-indulgences, and they work well for that too. For a cool-down, I've developed what I call my little Zen table. Lavender potpourri (Agraria, heavenly stuff), a fake orchid (I know, that's so not-Zen, a fake plant, but I had it around so I put it there until I buy a real plant), a photo of my Grandma Meyer with Nathan and me (because I loved my grandma and I miss her and think about her alot and that makes me feel good), and a sage-scented eye pillow. I lie down next to this little table, lay the eye pillow over my eyes, attempt a really brief meditation, feel nice and relaxed, and before I fall asleep (it's happened, right there, in the middle of the floor) I jump up and get on with my day. It's nice.

So. For dinner, we're going meatless, which I try to do once or twice per week. That moderation thing again, damn. Broccolini with orechiette pasta. Not sure exactly how I'm doing it, I think with garlic and a little red-pepper flake action for some heat. We'll see how it plays out.

Well, it played out quite nicely. Deliciously, in fact. I haven't cooked much with broccolini which is an oversight on my part. Easy to handle and quite good all on its own (I sampled several pieces of it in the saute pan before I tossed it with the pasta. Just checking seasoning, of course, that's always my excuse...). I just chopped it, sauteed it with olive oil for a few minutes, tossed in sliced garlic and red pepper flakes, and finished it with the cooked orechiette and a good amount of pasta cooking liquid and coarse salt to make a nice sauce. Grated a pungent Pecorino Romano over it all. Mmmm... Perhaps heady stuff for a first date (the garlic, the heat), but otherwise, go for it! You could back off on the red pepper flakes for kids, if you've convinced them that broccoli (and thus broccolini) is just baby trees and they happily eat it. All good - yummy, pretty, healthy. We opened a Sanford Pinot, oh...yeah...to have with it. Just check out how content John is, post-dinner, reading his Rolling Stone magazine, finishing a glass of Pinot. Happy Monday. (Recipe in comments, below.)

Used my herb butter to make myself a little brunch - nothing new here, I've written this before - egg over-easy on toast (cooked the egg in a little herb butter, put a little on the toast) with chopped arugula and scallions. Salt and pepper. Glass of champagne. Delicious. Aaaah, Sunday morning. Love it. With that reinforcement, I can now head out for groceries and back here to prepare some version of chicken & rice for dinner. Sort of Saltimbocca-ish, with crispy prosciutto and sage? Hmmm...that sounds good. Or with a Marsala pan sauce? (That's John's true fav.) I could be in the mood for a Piccata-like dish, do a lemon and caper sauce. But I doubt the kids would dig that. And I can't blame them, I don't think I was a big caper fan when I was a kid either, ha. I think I may go the prosciutto/sage route, with a RED wine pan sauce, oooh, yeah, a nice Pinot, have the rest of the bottle with our dinner. That's it. OK, with that settled, I'm off, out into the snow! Almost odd to see snow, since it's been so warm for so many days. But it's good to see. It's still January - when the weather doesn't act its age, I get all out-of-sorts.

Well, I did indeed go with the Saltimbocca-like chicken, quite tasty, if I do say so myself (recipe posted in comments, below). I honestly didn't feel much like pinning prosciutto and sage leaves onto pounded chicken breasts with toothpicks. So I didn't. I did pound the chicken breasts flat, and dredge them in flour, and saute them quickly in olive oil. THEN I sauteed, separately, the prosciutto and sage leaves, until both were crispy. Took them out of the pan, then added and reduced chicken broth and wine (the Pinot), and whisked in some butter to finish the sauce. Served the chicken on top of sauteed spinach and caramelized onions (recipe in comments), with rice on the side. The only problem with making chicken & rice for John is that he eats WAY too much of it, and regrets it, and moans the rest of the night. Other than that, it worked out well. Nathan, and visiting friends Oliver (also 9) and Benjamin (8), happily ate lots of chicken & rice. And Oliver and Benjamin's mom, Bridget, and my sister Stacey, were happy to have the spinach, along with everything else (unlike the boys, ha). So a great night, the boys had a blast playing outside on the hockey rink, no skates needed, just running around in the snow. Nice way to end the weekend! (And here's a picture of Baby Boom Boom, already adorable, I can just tell...)

And P.S., Andrew, we all really miss you. You left us all too soon. Damn you. Every time I cook something over-the-top, I think of you.

Andrew Cohen (toasting us at our wedding), March 3, 1958 to January 27, 2003.

Whew. Home from Willmar (not fun driving on Highway 12, in the dark, in the rain). Amanda's shower was fun and cozy at LuLu Bean's coffee house, if you happen to be in Willmar looking for a cup of coffee, go there, it's adorable. Amanda (pictured here with her future mother-in-law, my aunt Mary) got lots of cool presents. The collection of various coffee cakes and fruit came together beautifully and we all had plenty of sweets! The Norwegian Wedding Cake (in pic), crafted by my aunt Mary's friend Rachel Wilcox, was not just gorgeous, but delicious. None of us could keep our hands off of it. Almond pastry, sigh, I'm such a sucker for almond pastry. And then afterward - before and after my call in to Chowhounds at 1:45 p.m. - we had lunch at Green Mill. Which is pretty funny, since we had dinner there last night, too. And I ordered the same thing both days, it was so good. A Killian's Red beer with a side of Pub Steak Sandwich. Naughty thing, but quite delicious, obviously, or I wouldn't have ordered it two days in a row.

I don't know if you caught my little interview with Chef Andrew Zimmern on Chowhounds FM107, but it sure was fun to do. I was insanely nervous (and giggly as a result, irritating) which is silly given how cool and easy to talk to Andrew is. He's awesome. And so sweet for having me on. If you listened today, thank you! That makes me feel great! And thank you for reading my blog. And checking out the recipes. And cooking them and telling me about it. I'm truly honored and excited. And lucky. Wow.

So, I promised a picture of and recipe from my aunt Marge, and I acquired both (recipe for Cranberry Cream Coffee Cake is in comments, below; it is incredible). I stayed at her, and her husband, my uncle Jim's, house last night. Marge is the tidiest person I know and you know what? It is a pleasure to stay in someone else's tidy home. Beautiful room, super-comfy bed, pile of soft pillows, with sheets that smelled clean and fresh. I slept like a rock, which I don't often do in someone else's home. She also has the BEST collection of scented soaps and lotions of anyone I know. I sampled Thymes Ginger Milk and Crabtree & Evelyn Lavender lotions, both fab. Most people think, oh, that's too bad, you're going to Willmar (and then they think, wherever that is...). But not me. Between my two beautiful, awesome aunts, and their beautiful awesome homes (and my cool uncles too, of course!), I LOVE going out to Willmar.

It feels like Sunday night, but I'm so glad it's not! A day to chill out a bit tomorrow, make a plan for dinner, hit Byerly's, get back in my swing. We're having friends for dinner, and Stacey too. Can't wait to see how much soon-to-be-born Baby Boom Boom has grown!

OK, I'm tired today - too much partying! Awww, isn't that sad? This really is not my usual routine, at all. Which is probably why I'm so tired! Last night's neighborhood women's association meeting was as fun as always. Hosted in the beautiful home of my neighbor Marie, everything was lovely. Great food, wine, and seriously cool women. I walked over with one of those cool women, my neighbor Kasey - Marie lives on our block, so we walked instead of driving. Usually Kasey backs her car down her driveway and straight up mine, and off we drive, not more than just a few blocks, because I'm sorry, it's too damn COLD and difficult to walk in heels while carrying a tray of appetizers or dessert or a bottle of wine for more than a block. And there are always plenty of other cars there too, which makes me feel less guilty. But last night we walked. And I of course got rained on, during the walk home, freezing cold rain, no jacket, it really sucked. (I hope it quit raining before Kasey walked home!) So other than the getting rained on part, I had a blast. And even made it home in time to get to bed by 11:00. Ahhh, I love my bed, especially when I'm that tired. Good, soft sheets. Great pillows. Definitely one of life's little (major) pleasures...

And I needed that sleep, because I was up and at 'em this morning, baking for my cousin's fiancee Amanda's shower tomorrow. A few of us are bringing coffee cakes, so I baked two, both my mom's recipes. I think they're both my sister Stacey's top two favorite foods in the whole world, and I love them too. One is the classic cinnamon streusel coffee cake (top picture). Baked in a Bundt pan (I love that word, Bundt). The other is basically almond-flavored cream puff (choux) pastry on a crisp crust, with icing (pictured above and below). It is decadent and fab-u-lous. Mmmm... (Both recipes posted in comments, below).

I'm staying with my aunt Marge tonight, in Willmar, I'll see if she'll let me take her picture for a post. Marge is THE BEST, hands down, baker that I know, but she doesn't look like it, not one bit. She's thin, buff, and totally healthy. It would be nauseating if she weren't so awesome. I'll try to remember to get one of her recipes as well, they're all yummy.

So! I'm off to walk off some of the calories I'm sure I consumed with a little taste here and there as I prepared the coffee cakes. And then a drive out to the sticks...nah, not really. Willmar has a McDonald's. That's a little inside joke, I used to think any town with a McDonald's was BIG. I clearly lived in a town that was NOT.

Crazy-fun night, oh my god how I laughed, ouch. Kim and Susie (here with Nathan), two of the funniest people on the planet, came for dinner. Our goal was to actually do some work - ha! - on Feminine Hijinx... Our soon-to-be podcast! Of the three of us raving various subjects together - the concept and name of which Susie brainstormed. And, she wrote the theme song, and of course it's fantastic! The plan was to meet here, eat a quick bowl of soup (tortilla) with the family, then retire to the newly fabulous (ha) downstairs to nail down a format. W..e..l..l...we talked and laughed in the dining room for a couple of hours, keeping Nathan from his homework, since he loves to hang with Susie and Kim too. We then ended up in our bedroom, looking at family photos, and naturally (?) posing for photos of our own. Finally, we made it downstairs, and did talk about the podcast, and everything else under the sun, and when the yawns were more than the laughs, we called the evening over. I rolled into bed (this time, with John) at some point after midnight, still laughing. I don't know what it is about the three of us that makes us dork out like silly, giggling (actually, shrieking) schoolgirls, but I'll take it!

So, tortilla soup. One of my favorites, and in my mind a healthy way to tame that craving for Mexican food that was born in, of all places, Grand Forks, North Dakota, at what was then La Campana restaurant. They put some drug in those beef burritos, because I still crave them, powerfully. Stephanie Sanford, Kim Borgen, and I still email each other about LaCampana, and whenever we're together in GF, which isn't often enough, we head there (or actually, to its heir, Paradiso) right away and chow down. And now we can also have a beer (woo hoo!), which we couldn't in highschool of course. Since there's no equal to Paradiso here in the Twin Cities (and most people would be glad about that, especially John!), I whipped up some tortilla soup. Simple, healthy, little spicy, little salty, full of chicken, avocado, a few tortilla chips, and topped with a sprinkle of cheese and a dab of sour cream. Delicious, and on the table in less than thirty. Yes! Recipe is in comments, below. (I have to confess, I didn't have the soup hot enough when we ate it last night - sorry about that guys, I was too busy talking; when it's hot, it's truly a fantastic meal-in-a-bowl...)

Today I'm preparing a little appetizer for our neighborhood women's association meeting. The group gets together every-other month throughout the year at a different home each time. SO fun. Lots of gabbing, laughing, and drinking wine - my kind of get-together. Such a girlie week! Which will continue right on into the weekend, as I mentioned yesterday, at a family bridal shower on Saturday. The only drawback is I'm hardly seeing John this week - Thursday night is usually our "date night," since both kids are always with their other parent on Thursday nights. Next week (or Sunday night?) I'll have to come up with something fun for dinner, maybe John's favorite, some/any version of chicken & rice (and make up for the triple-pork and polenta I put him through this week).

I'm bringing two spreads, one a Spuma di Tonno, from Michael Chiarello's Casual Cooking (lovely book), a smooth tuna spread that is salty and delicious with something crisp. The other, just a simple herb butter, made with what I think is the holy grail of butter, Hope Creamery. John just laughs at me that I can't even buy this stuff and keep it in the house because I can't stay away from it. And I can't. Thin, cold slices of this on anything - bread, a cracker, or nothing at all (sick, I know, but I think of it as cheese to make it seem OK)...sublime. So I really don't buy it unless I know I'm going to use it up real fast. I figure I'll use half today for the herb butter, half tomorrow for one of the two coffeecakes I'm baking. I'll get my one (small) taste of it, and then get it the hell out of here. I'll post recipes for both the Spuma di Tonno and herb butter in comments (below).

Wake up! Turns out, not much of a problem today. That coffee - the real deal - that I happily drank at Susie's yesterday? Vrooom, powered me through damn near the entire night. I've mentioned before that I'm off caffeine, for exactly this reason, but once in awhile I indulge. Usually, it's fine. But usually I don't drink more than two cups. And yesterday? I don't know. Many more than two. Talk, sip, laugh, sip, pretty soon hours had gone by and the whole pot was gone. Oops. Yet one more little window into why I subtitled this blog "a quest for measured pleasure..." I keep forgetting...

So, Big Byerly's Run later today. I'm making tortilla soup tonight for Susie and Kim (more on that in a bit) and John, Nathan, and A. And am also thinking ahead to my neighborhood women's association meeting Thursday night (appetizer) and the bridal shower I'm co-hosting for my cousin Michael's fiancee Amanda (coffee cakes) on Saturday (before the Chowhounds call-in, see below). Lots of cooking/baking coming up - yay! (And how 1950s house-wifey does this all sound? I just reread what I wrote, hilarious. And a little scary too. Hmmm...)

So I'm off. Quick, tasty lunch, just a few slices of hard salami on crackers, topped with sliced raw onion (you can tell I'm not sharing work space right now - fragrant), few olives, few slices of pickled beet. I guess I was in a salty/sour mood - I'm sure that list of foods could make more than a few people cringe! I'm not pregnant, so that means...PMS. Look out!

Here's Suz, cooking chili today, she invited me over for lunch. Woo hoo! It was delicious and so cozy. With biscuits, and lots of coffee (of course). A little chat for dessert. I had - what else? - polenta (!) to contribute, so we had that too, and it was nice with the chili, even day-old polenta. Susie and I have a few items in common that we love that no one else in our families can/will eat - beans, squash, beets, bread pudding. This chili was full of beans and it and they were perfect on a cloudy, blustery day (recipe in comments, below). Sullivan came home from preschool and had a biscuit - and chat - too. He's sooo cute! Cory came home for a bite to eat too (no chili, he doesn't do the beans...), but I forgot to take his picture! How ironic, I forgot to take the photographer's picture. Next time, in a few weeks, when he and I collaborate on a few food photos (I'll cook, he'll take the pics, I'll post them here; and, they'll be WAY better than the food pics I've been posting, which will be fun). I flew out of their house - I can't stop talking, of course, and time just flies by - to pick up Nathan at school. We stopped at Carter's on the way home to let out puppy McCoy, Nathan's other dog, 8 months old, adorable, and full of LOTS of energy (below).

And now I'm home, preparing a few recipes to send to Chef Andrew Zimmern, host of Chowhounds on FM107. Why? Because I'm going to be ON his radio show this coming Saturday, January 28, around 1:45 p.m. I'm so excited! I'll be talking about starting a food blog. I hope you’ll listen, either on the radio here in the Twin Cities, or at Chowhounds FM107 (to listen online, click the “listen online” button at the upper left; there’s a quick form to fill out).

Tonight, Nathan has requested pizza for dinner. Since he doesn't have a basketball game, I think I'll take the time to make the real deal. A good, homemade, chewy crust. He can have pepperoni, his fav, I'll try to come up with something a little veggier for John and me. I'll check back in when I figure out what the hell I'm doing.

Well, pizza turned out nicely. We ate a bit late (!), but it was worth it. I'll post the recipe for a basic crust (in comments), not a big mystery, it produces a thin, crispy crust (which is my favorite). Trick is to line the baking sheet with parchment, bake for half the time on the sheet, then slide the pizza-on-parchment directly onto the rack. Works like a charm without fussing with a pizza stone. For a topping I caramelized some onion slices, stirred in a few sliced mushrooms, some chopped orange bell pepper, a few minced Kalamata olives, some chopped fresh tomato, and off heat, chopped scallions. Because that's what I had around - like pasta, I tend to make pizza up as I go, using what's available. I did top with some mozzarella, but not much. I just don't need tons of cheese on pizza. Oh, I'll happily eat pizza with tons of cheese. Bring it on! But on a regular basis, I want to enjoy pizza without feeling SO incredibly guilty when I'm done - a super-thin crust, lots of veggies, and just a bit of cheese do the trick. Bit of good olive oil, sprinkle of coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, sooooo good! And moderate-yet-decadent-seeming, way to go! I also made a simple salad, just chopped romaine and sweet onion tossed with good olive oil, little vinegar, salt, and pepper. I like easy little salads like that, tasty, and don't require loads of chopping. As long as the greens are good and fresh, a simple salad can really hit the spot. (The best? Fresh-from-the-garden greens, but whatever, that's a long time off, not worth thinking about right now...)

Now, time to wash some dishes. That's the only part of cooking I do NOT enjoy. Can't have it all...damn!

Good start to the week. Got Nathan to school on time, stopped for gas and a car wash on the way home - in my pajamas no less, I am amazed by how crazy-daring I've gotten about running errands in my pajamas. With a winter coat over them, of course, but still, there are my pink clearly-pajama pants hanging out the bottom. And there I am, pumping gas, dropping Nathan at school, or running into the post office for stamps. I haven't braved Byerly's in pajamas yet, and probably never will. I would have to be seriously hungry or otherwise desperate to face 1) the employees who totally know me because I'm there every other day, 2) my former Park Nicollet colleagues who quite easily bop down to Byerly's (secret back staircase) for lunch, snacks, postage, a newspaper, you name it, and 3) everyone else that I know because they all shop there, it's pretty rare to go and not see someone familiar. I'll go sweaty and makeup-less post-workout. But not in my pajamas. Yet.

As I mentioned yesterday, John does not love polenta (or he thinks he doesn't), but after wishing I could have pork roast with polenta...I can't get it out of my mind. So, sorry honey, we're having polenta tonight. Crispy polenta, however, which everyone has to like - what is NOT to like???? Topped with (yet again, one can't accuse me of not using my leftovers!) - pulled pieces of warm pork roast, and a pile of chopped tomato, raw onion, and arugula (yes, arugula again, its peppery, nutty taste is great with almost everything). I'll think about a wine and write later what I come up with. For now, off to run errands (with street clothes on!) and continue working on the overly huge photo project I've created downstairs (hanging more than 50 pictures from our wedding on one wall - it will be spectacular when it's done, but oh, what a pain in the ass).

OK, dinner worked out fabulously AND John liked it. As he said, "You're expanding my horizons." In terms of the polenta, and he thinks, pork, even though he happily eats lots of bacon and ham. But as a Jew, he feels guilty and/or thinks he doesn't like eating (uncured) pork. Somehow. It's not a logic thing. He's been a good sport about eating this pork roast, in three different iterations now. Time for me to freeze the rest (as I noted below, it was a 5 lb. roast!) So, I prepared the polenta this afternoon, smoothed it into a loaf pan, and let it cool at room temp, covered with plastic. When it was time for dinner, I sliced the polenta into 1/2" slices for crisping. I tried two different methods - the first batch I just sauteed in oil. You know, don't try that. Despite high heat on the preheat and during cooking, it soaked up too much oil to be considered moderate. Don't get me wrong, it tasted fucking amazing, but John said, "Is this moderate?" And I had to admit, not so much, not with the amount of oil that soaked up. A better method, which I tested after we ate, was to pour a little oil in a bowl, and just brush each slice of polenta, both sides, with a smear of oil, then brown a bit in a hot skillet. Much better, less messy, and MUCH more moderate. And frankly, just as delicious. So do that. I topped with chopped arugula, thinly sliced sweet onion, and quartered Santa Sweet cherry tomatoes (good through the winter, when most other tomatoes are inedible). Dressed with - don't panic, it's not too fattening - a warm bacon/balsamic dressing. Super easy to do, just one slice (!) of diced bacon sauteed until crispy, add one teaspoon of good balsamic to the pan while hot. Then pour the warm dressing over chopped greens - mmmm, so good, but really not TOO naughty. I crisped pieces of pulled pork in the same skillet I'd made the bacon/balsamic dressing in (after a quick wipe with a paper towel), no additional fat needed. So in the end, hot, crispy polenta, topped with chopped greens, tomatoes, and onion tossed in a warm bacon/balsamic dressing, topped yet again with pieces of warm, crispy pork. TELL ME, how good does that sound? It was great. We poured a 2004 Volnay-Santenots Premier Cru with it, had a good smoky element that was a nice complement to all that pork-y yumminess. Let me also say, if you don't have leftover roast pork lying around (ha), the crispy polenta with the salad on top would be FAB all on its own. I'll post recipes in comments, below. Sleep tight.

Had lunch with my friend Chris today, at Kafe 421. What is it about me forgetting lunches at Kafe 421? I damn near did it again, but luckily Chris called ahead of time, so once more I dashed off for Dinkytown looking like a hungover college student. Not even that good, because a college student can pull off the no-makeup, unshowered look and I, uh, can't. Oh well. It was great, as always, to see Chris, and we had yummy food, as is usual at Kafe 421. She was even nice enough to let me take her picture, with her lunch, with my new camera. Chris had a gyro, I had a burger with avocado (yep, it was killer), and we both had a side of butternut squash soup instead of fries. All good, all good.

So for tonight, hmmm, I've got lots of pork roast left from last night. I pulled it into bite-size pieces last night before putting it away. My idea for tonight is to crisp a few pieces with sliced garlic, chopped herbs or greens of some sort, and mushrooms, and toss it with papardelle. Keep it earthy, rustic. If it works, I'll post the recipe. I'll need a VERY small amount after my filling lunch. If I had my druthers, and had no one else to cook for tonight, I'd have crisp pork with a little polenta. But John and Nathan aren't big polenta fans (!?!) so papardelle will have to do, ha.

OK, made the pasta, I thought it was quite good, John and Nathan thought it so-so. Darn! I'm quickly discovering how tough it is to photograph food and make it look appetizing...hmmm...but I'll continue experimenting. Anyhow, I'll post not a recipe, but the basic method that I used to make it, similar to the Papardelle with Tuna Sauce I posted earlier. It is handy for creating your own pastas, perhaps from leftovers, perhaps from what you have in the pantry.

Now what I need, on this Sunday night, is a quick walk around the neighborhood, followed by a nice, warm bath. Oh, that sounds DAMN good. A few Agraria lavender bubbles, light a couple of candles, ahhhh. No calories, pure heaven. I'm SO in...

Cooking this afternoon, while A does her homework and John quizzes her. Nice, to have them in the kitchen with me. Little music, little wine, little garlic. Had a good IM discussion with Susie today strategizing potatoes au gratin, inspired me to make them too! She's doing roasted chicken with rosemary, pancetta, and balsamic. I'm doing a braised pork shoulder roast. Which I did just a couple of weeks ago, a Mexican version that we ate in homemade tortillas, mmmm... Tonight, an Italian version, with garlic and fennel. Just John and me for dinner, which means I can put things like cheese in our dishes (the potatoes, ahhhh). As the roast finishes, my plan is to add sliced carrots and fennel, tossed with olive oil and coarse salt, to roast alongside the pork. I'm sipping an incredible, and to me unusual, Vouvray as I cook, a 1990 Domaine Pichot, very much in the realm of Riesling or Pinot Blanc. Rich, golden, more than slightly sweet, it's better than I thought it would be. Helped myself to a few thin slices of the aged Gruyere I shredded for the potatoes, pretty decadent little wine-cheese tasty for 4 p.m. Our plan is to build a big fire and eat in front of the fireplace, we'll see if we pull it off. Sometimes we have good intentions but get too damn hungry and just eat in the kitchen. I also plan to try to take a pic of the roast when it's done, we'll see if I can make it work. I'm soooo excited about my new camera!

OK, just ate, my initial reaction is it was too rich - for a moderate epicurean - to have the potatoes au gratin with roasted pork shoulder. Now, it didn't suck, at all, but to me, over the top. Buttery pork roast with creamy potatoes, eek. Also, I didn't like the carrots and fennel roasted with the pork and am slapping my head that I didn't just roast them separately, and then toss in fresh, chopped dill, inspired by our dinner at Luci Ancora, detailed (to death, ha) below. So I'll revise all my recipes accordingly (in comments). Here are my attempts at photographing the food, hopefully I'll get MUCH better at this... (I am having WAY too much fun, cooking, writing recipes, taking pics, doing this blog, my family hardly knows me anymore!)


Yes, John did make a fire! And we ate in front of it, awesome.


I cut the - 5 lb.! - roast into three pieces,
here it is in the oven surrounded by
carrots and fennel.


The potatoes out of the oven...

Haven't posted for a couple of days - minor crisis here on Wednesday night, I was thisclose to wrapping up a post, when John and Nathan realized our dog Sigmund had disappeared. Sigs, or Roo as we call him (pictured here), is an old guy now - 13 years old, almost 14. He (almost) never leaves our yard, at least not in the last couple of years. So we set out, at 9:30 p.m., combing the neighborhood looking for him. For HOURS. John was still out looking for him, at midnight, when Sigs finally came home on his own, after we'd sadly started to conclude he was, ahem, perhaps no longer of this world. I had finally calmed Nathan down and gotten him to drift off to sleep, when we heard, "ROOO!" at the door (that's the sound he makes, thus his nickname), and sure enough, he was home. Happy, wanted a treat, no worse for the wear. We have no idea where he was - as Susie said, only Roo knows...

Anyhow, when I got back to my blog posting, I had lost my internet connection, and out of frustration I just shut down to start over the next day. Which would be yesterday. But I decided to wait until today because I knew I would have something TOTALLY blog-worthy today. BIG food/wine dinner last night, a St. Innocent winery-hosted dinner at Luci Ancora in St. Paul. John and I joined major food-wine lovers Joe and Genie Dixon, and wine-genius Stu Williams (his wife Debbie was ill and couldn't make it). St. Innocent owner/founder Mark Vlossak talked interestingly about his process and thinking in making each of the seven wines we sampled, and as a major foodie and cook himself, had terrific tips about food pairings for his wines. Luci Ancora created a gorgeous tasting menu to complement the wines, the only course that wasn't spectacular was dessert. We opened with a very fresh oyster on the half shell, paired with St. Innocent Vitea Springs Pinot Gris 2003. Nice together, but the Pinot Gris really stood out with the next course, pulled pieces of tender, slow-roasted pheasant served on a homemade whole wheat cracker. Mmm...rich, chewy, crispy, an interesting and delicious combination. Next was sauteed shrimp with garlic, fennel, and dill, paired with St. Innocent Freedom Hill Pinot Blanc 2003. Beautiful together, fennel and dill (I'll tuck that idea away and use it somewhere soon), and beautiful with the Pinot Blanc. Next - no, we were not full yet, the courses were a few bites each, as they should be - was a chewy, cheesey homemade ravioli, topped with sauteed greens, paired with St. Innocent Freedom Hill Chardonnay 2002. I have to confess, I don't really enjoy what I think of as American Chardonnay (big, oaky, buttery) with food, which has unfortunately made me often pass on Chardonnay in general, but this was a fantastic Chardonnay, and interesting with the cheese and greens. AND then, my favorite course, a risotto, cooked in veal demiglace, served wtih poached foie gras. Foie gras, as I've mentioned before, oh how I love it. Luckily, John loves risotto, so I made a fantastic trade - some of my risotto for his bite of foie gras. Yay! I got two bites instead of one. Paired with two Pinot Noirs, St. Innocent Shea Pinot Noir 2003 and St. Innocent Anden Pinot Noir 2002, both so decadent with the rich foie gras and risotto, especially, to me, the Shea. Not done yet (!), we also loved the next course, roasted lamb loin with wild mushrooms and consomme, paired with a jewel, St. Innocent White Rose Pinot Noir 2003. F..a..b. Man, what a meal. Dessert was an almond-crusted savarin, didn't really work. Served with a lovely St. Innocent Brut 2000, however, so I was of course more than happy to call that glass of sparkling wine my dessert. Sigh. My kind of night - fun people, cozy setting, great food and wine... Luci Ancora was packed full of laughing, talking people; at one point I looked around and thought about how grateful I was to be there, in that place, in St. Paul, in Minnesota, in the United States, on Earth, in this universe, a little speck of merriment. And then snap, I was back to the food and wine in front of me, and I took another bite of something amazing. I learned alot, actually, I think Mark Vlossak did a nice job of describing his wines, and which elements complement which foods, I thoroughly enjoyed his remarks. Just a great night.

Today, one small note, I guess I couldn't bear to just eat any old thing, after all that fabulousness last night, so I made one of my very favorite lunches for myself. Over-easy egg, on a piece of toast, sprinkled with a little pile of chopped arugula and scallions. Generous salt and pepper. Mmmm...

One last note - I got a digital camera, woo hoo! Picture of Sigs is my first official pic, awww, Rufus, we're so glad you're still with us. We weren't ready to say goodbye...

Oh, I think it's snowing, cool, a reward for all this dark cloudiness today. GLOOMY. I'd rather it were this day...

Fourth of July, fireworks, with Susie, Sullivan, me, Vivian, John, and Stacey (Cory's snapping the pic). Ah, it was a spectacular night, after a spectacular afternoon of bike riding for John and me. Warm, but not hot; breezy, but not windy. We ended our bike ride with a picnic - cold fried chicken, fruit, wine, music playing from the car... So romantic. The IDEAL moderate epicurean's day, such balanced joy, it was almost nauseatingly perfect. Exercise, food and wine, fresh air, music, laughing with friends, even a little patriotism. Sigh. A gloomy winter's day reminiscence. Wish it were summer. But, honestly, the mosquitoes were brutal out there that night (therefore the hoods on Sullivan, Vivian, and Stacey, despite the balmy temp). OK, remembering that makes me feel a little better. It may be cold and, frankly, shitty outside, but there are definitely no mosquitoes, woo hoo! I mean, woo hoo. It IS still January in Minnesota.

So a quiet MLK day. Nathan had his friend Thomas over to play, they were busy building Legos for hours. I wrote recipes (posted in comments for January 14) and had a hilarious IM chat with Suz - it's good for the soul, laughing with Susie. We even somehow covered eating raw hot dogs! No recipe required for that... No wine recommendation either. Ew.

So tonight, a quick potato leek soup, a la Julia Child, Potage Parmentier. (Recipe in comments, below. I added a couple of other simple soup recipes too, GOOD ones.) Just John and me, and we're up for something light. Or, I am, and I'm cookin'. Cook's choice, man I love that rule.

As I struggled to drag my butt out of bed this morning, I laughed at how completely NOT moderate I've been this weekend. Oops. Despite my best efforts to take only a few bites/sips of this and that, it all added up to p..l..e..n..t..y of food and wine. There's nothing wrong with any one of the lovely items I sampled yesterday - but fried polenta, roasted potatoes, Prosecco, lamb chops, spanikopita, couscous, Cabernet, cream puffs with chocolate sauce...all on the same day?...That's plenty epicurean but not one bit moderate. Sigh. I got a little carried away with myself as I tend to do. It was all very fun, but today's menu will include much more truly moderate offerings - brothy soup, steamed veggies, fresh fruit, and lots of water. All yummy too, but a bit more restorative. Time for this brown-eyed girl to de-puff. And as my friend Ruth says, bust some suds (wash some dishes)...

John and Nathan went to see the Torchlight Theater's production of The Miracle Worker this afternoon - I can't recommend it highly enough. Nathan's good friend Shelby stars in it as Helen Keller and she is breathtaking in the role. The response has been outstanding, including an extension of the run, which was supposed to wrap before Christmas. While they were away I took a l...o...n...g bath in my overly huge (but totally luxurious, I admit it) bathtub, ahhh, it was so nice. I've previously mentioned my passion for Molton Brown bath products, but Agraria makes a mighty fine lavender bath gel, very relaxing and lovely when I'm wiped out. I actually fell asleep in there, pretty hilarious. And then I crawled into bed and fell asleep in my robe, I definitely took fine advantage of my Sunday afternoon alone. Hopefully, after what amounts to two naps, really, I'll be able to sleep tonight! So, the dishes are done, the leftovers are gone, the weekend is officially over. It sure was a nice one.

Great night, we had such fun with John's colleagues and their spouses, Clark and Cindy Opdahl, Scott and Beth Hagel, and newly-former/much-missed-already colleague Tom Ting and his wife Erin. Or as Tom's now known, TT, or Traitor Tom. Awww, poor Tom. I don't work with him, but I know the only reason anyone's giving him crap is because they'll miss him so much. So good luck Tom, I have a feeling you'll be seeing everyone often anyhow, even if you don't want to!

I had planned to cook all day, because I almost spaced - how could I? - that I had planned a rare Saturday lunch with my girlfriends Mary Pappas and Kathie Radcliffe, two women who during my 12 years at Park Nicollet saw me through basically my entire adult life. They've seen it all: marriage, pregnancy, birth, divorce, marriage, miscarriages, the whole nine. DEAR friends - I wish you all to have friends like Mary and Kathie. Thank goodness that in the middle of par-boiling potatoes and mincing garlic I remembered my lunch plans. I rushed off to Kafe 421, sans makeup and with wildly curly hair (I don't like doing that, going out sans makeup with wildly curly hair, but for good friends, I'll do it...) in Dinkytown, and had a fantastic lunch. Not just the company was great, but also the food. Greek, baby, is there anything better? Hell to the no! (A Whitney Houston quote Suz pointed out to me, cracks me up.) The heart of Kafe 421 is Greek, but the menu is trans-Mediterranean. So yummy. We particularly loved fried polenta (and really, what's not to love about FRIED polenta? Damn good, creamy on the inside, crispy on the outside; real healthy, I'm sure), a killer spanikopita, a turkey sandwich in a fresh, soft pita jazzed up with french-fried onions (fab, I'm telling you), and a silky squash soup. It was all amazing.

I made it home by 2:30 p.m. to continue pulling together dinner for tonight. Crispy oven-roasted potatoes with spicy aioli for an hors d'oeuvre. Broiled loin lamb chops (per the garlic/mint/olive oil smearing from last night); couscous with peppers, onions, raisins, olives, and garlic; and spinach - basically, spanikopita without the phyllo (baked, chopped spinach with dill, garlic, scallions, feta, egg). A Mediterranean-sort of day, I definitely made my daily quota for dark leafy greens. My goal was to make cream puffs for dessert, filled with whipped cream and drizzled with an insanely decadent chocolate syrup I whip up from time to time. And I did basically make that, but instead of individual puffs I spread the choux pastry in one large layer before baking (less fussy) and cut it into squares to serve. Worked great, I'll definitely do that again. I also improvised on the whipped cream a bit, since I'd used the last of my vanilla extract in the insanely decadent chocolate sauce mentioned above. I instead grabbed some coconut extract, put a dab of that into the whip, and added some toasted coconut that I happened to have handy (that sounds dumb and potentially pretentious, having toasted coconut handy, but I had made and used some for Christmas cookies and had saved the extra assuming it would keep pretty well; it did). I love coconut, so to me it tasted great. Nathan helped make the night flow smoothly - he's a great helper, clearing plates, serving dessert and coffee, so cute. He's my little party boy. And John did beautiful party due-diligence, listening to me bark out seriously bitchy commands while rolling his eyes only occasionally, building a roaring fire, washing all my prep dishes - he even made the bed, and he never does that. He is a SAINT of a husband, and a good co-party-thrower. Cheers to Nathan and John!

Since it's currently after midnight, I'll post recipes tomorrow. I'd LOVE to take a lovely warm bath, light a few candles, sip a little more wine, but frankly, I'm too goddamn fucking tired (I LOVE to swear when I'm tired; in fact, I love to swear any goddamn time; like hypocrisy, it's in the genes). Straight to goddamn bed for me...

Later: OK, I've posted recipes in the comments, below. Enjoy!

Kim, and Stephanie and me, at our 20th high school reunion at the end of July. We weren't in a photo together, and I don't know how to photoshop us together. Someday, I'll get better at this!


Oh, I got a funny email from my dear high school girlfriend Kim (above). She said, you've always been a (wannabe) foodie, she still has letters from me in 7th grade talking about the food I was eating at the dude ranch we vacationed at every summer, the HF Bar. Now, the HF Bar was a crazy-fun place, but was not known for its great food, as you might imagine, I have no idea what I said but it just made me laugh that I was raving food at age 13. What a DORK. It reminds of the career aptitude test I took in 8th grade, I came out to be a chef, which at the time I thought was incredibly embarassing. I think I even tried to lie about it to my other dear highschool girlfriend and post-college roomie, Stephanie (also above), but there was no lying to her, she knew that I secretly loved to cook (and was mystified by the fact; this is a girl who once called me at my parents' to ask if she should add a can of mushrooms to pasta while it was cooking, or after it was done...hmmm...to be fair, I'm sure she cooks quite nicely for her family now, that was a long, long time ago).

Big food day tomorrow, I'm Cooking. For colleagues of John's and spouses. BIG Byerly's run, which I always enjoy (I'm one of those rare few who love to grocery shop). I just got out of the shower and unfortunately smell more like garlic than shampoo - I created a marinade for the loin lamb chops I'm making tomorrow by pureeing lots of garlic, mint, olive oil, salt and pepper. Smeared it on the chops with my hands, post-shower (oops). That's OK. I don't mind garlic on skin so much, just breath. Unless I have garlic breath too, and then for some reason that cancels it out, of course. That's so me - something offends me until I do it and then it's OK. I was born a hypocrite. It's in the genes.

My "fucking sublime" papardelle with tuna sauce (I got some SHIT today about saying fuck) was VERY nice on the reheat for lunch. Fucking awesome. Just kidding. Almost as an after-thought at Byerly's, because I realized I had put zero thought into dinner THIS night, and I wasn't up for pasta yet again, I bought a baguette, two nice cheeses (a tangy blue and a mild sheep's milk - boy do I enjoy sheep's milk cheese), fig preserves (good with the blue, yum), a hard salami, olives, and arugula. And that's dinner. Would have been better as a picnic on a July afternoon, but oh well. My kitchen in January does not suck. Especially with a few candles, good tune-age, and a nice glass of wine. And it's Friday! And I'm cooking all day tomorrow! Woo hoo!

Yummy ONE-HALF of a toasted ham & gruyere on baguette last night (ate all the chips though, damn, "forgot" to tell them to hold the chips). Had a good salty-crunchy-melty thing going on, nothing bad about that. At Beaujo's Wine Bar, with Kim. Opened with a pretty, crisp glass of Cava, delish. Moved on to a mellow Riesling as we chatted, and chatted, and drank more wine, and chatted. Kim and I have covered MANY hours drinking wine and chatting. To the extent that John said, "Don't wake me up when you get home" as I left the house at 5:20 p.m. I stuck with white wine this time to avoid the hideous purple lips that always show up when I'm drinking red wine combined with chatting with Kim. Kim thought we should have a contest to see who got the red lips first this time, but then we went for white, no contest. This time. Maybe we should save red-wine chats for when we're at one of our houses, and have white-wine-only chats when we're out in public. What do you think, Kim, a new rule? Or as Susie would say, what say ye?

Had the other half of the sandwich for lunch today, just perfect. Cold this time, that worked too. No wine. As a wannabe moderate epicurean, and someone who likes to get things done in the afternoon, I don't do wine at lunch. Unless I'm on vacation. Or at one of my occasional Friday Lunches at Lucia's with my friend Kathie. Shhhh...don't tell her boss! Lucia's ALWAYS suggests a lovely glass of wine, it can't be passed up, especially on a Friday!

Well, enough of that daydreaming. Today's not Friday, and I have lots to do, time for some Gavin DeGraw and a nice cup of tea to get me through my chores. I'd listen to my usual standby, MPR, but I can NOT stand to listen to judiciary committee senators grandstanding and bragging and droning on during the Sam Alito hearings. Not an ideal process, to say the least.

Me again, post-dinner, I MUST include the recipe for the pasta with tuna sauce I just made for dinner. Go beyond your first thoughts upon reading it, because you, like me, might not appreciate how GOOD it is, truly fantastic, especially if you have a spicy red Zinfandel lying around. The two together - fucking SUBLIME. But even if you don't have the Zin, or drink wine, I'm telling you, it's a KILL - and SIMPLE - dinner. It exists in the realm of linguine with white clam sauce, but it's much easier, and healthier, and cheaper, with a bit more kick - I'd say I prefer it. I ate mine with my eyes closed, and that means I'm having one of my experiences... (recipe in comments, below)

In relatively typical fashion, I did NOT get to Coastal Seafoods for halibut, so I substitued eggs, delicious with the fresh polenta and red pepper oil. Not bad in a pinch, but halibut is better. Either way, the meal is deceptively light, plus colorful, nutritious, easy - and rather impressive. Needed a salad, arugula with a mustard vinaigrette would have been great, but I ran out of time and energy. I also didn't have any arugula. Oh well. John and I ate late, washed it down with a couple of glasses of Prosecco, and called it a night.

Last night, Tuesday, was Nathan's basketball game night. Games are at 6:00, so not much time to cook. I often come up with interesting meals (I think) - and interesting outfits (as a total aside) - when I am seriously pressed for time. I knew I had some frozen spaetzle, a great product, requires no boiling water, just heat, so decided to lead off of that. Sauce, sauce, what can I do for a sauce? I have fresh sage leaves in the fridge, how about browned butter with sage? Check. Needs some protein, I have leftover pork roast (see below), but it's very chipotle-y, not good with sage, ah, I'll go with my old stand-by - rotisserie chicken from Byerly's. So protein, check. Toss spaetzle and chicken (and if I had arugula, I would toss in a handful of torn up leaves, but as I mentioned above, no dice) in browned sage butter until warm, serve in bowls with freshly grated Parm and black pepper, sprinkle of sea salt, OMG it was good. Even Nathan liked it, which he was POSITIVE he wouldn't, because he was mad at me for not letting him go to McDonald's (!) after the game since he had a big and not-yet-completed project due at school today. Nothing tastes good to Nathan if it's instead-of McDonald's. Sigh. Someday, I'll champion Pizza Hut and McDonald's in my boy's heart (or stomach). But not yet. Oh, and regarding the moderation part, it did not take much browned butter to get ALOT of flavor for the spaetzle. Same with the good, imported hunk of Parmesan that keeps forever in the cheese drawer. I was quite proud that I'd met my moderate epicurean goal in less than 15 minutes, including my actual thought process, ha. (I'll put a more accurate version of what I did in the comments for this entry...)

In the home decor realm, which as another of life's little pleasures DEFINITELY fits into my epicurean definition, I achieved major satisfaction yesterday. I accompanied Susie on a bead run - supplies for her fabulous jewelry making - and came home with...what else?...an amazing lamp. For our downstairs, which was water-damaged last spring and has been reborn, through repair, into a pretty damn cool place to hang out. As with many lower levels, ours has inherited furnishings from several family members and John's and my previous marriages/households. Which all look somehow new and fabulous amidst new carpeting, funky paint, the stunning artwork of our friends Kathleen Day-Coen (www.galleryco.net/previous/daycoen/), Maud Bryt (www.maudbryt.com), and Cory Shubert (www.pixelagogo.com/gallery_people.html) and my sister Stacey (www.galleryco.net/previous/meyer/). It all just needed an interesting lamp...and I found THE LAMP next door to the bead store...thanks to Susie who noticed their half-off-sale sign (definitely moderate, half-off!)... The lamp looks so good, in fact, it inspired me to start putting the rooms back together (still messed up from above-mentioned carpeting and paint jobs), I really got into it. Hung pictures, arranged photos, books, rugs, I even moved a couple of large pieces of furniture by myself. And DIDN'T hurt my back! Proud of that too - my spaetzle in browned butter and my uninjured back. How good is that?

And one more note for this so-far good day, musically speaking, check out Susie's new music samples on her website, www.warbride.net. Not only can she spot a good deal, she ROCKS! (You can also access her site from her blog, Diary of a Metal Mommy, at right under For Fun.)

Back to school today for Nathan, it was a great holiday break. It was just a couple of weeks ago that we kicked off all the fun at Emily's bowling birthday party - I don't know who had more fun, the kids or the moms (also below). Thank goodness for great friends!
















Nathan, Vivian, and Emily - the buds!

Kim, me, and Susie - the moms!

You can't tell in the photo, but I'm wearing a cool-as-hell necklace that Susie made for me for my birthday. The girl makes killer jewelry - always good to have a friend who makes jewelry! Now I need a friend who designs clothing and another who creates fragrance - jewelry, clothes, and fragrance may not pop into most people's minds when they think "epicurean" (then again, most people don't think "epicurean" very often...), but in the realm of sensual pleasures, they are each a MUST. For me. Ha. And don't get me started on makeup and bath products, I have much to say about those as well. But I'll save those raves for a different day. Because I'm striving for moderation, I won't write everything about myself all on one day (and for those who know me, they know that's a..BIG..effort for me).

So, jewelry. While I would love to collect fine jewels, it's not going to happen for me for the same reason it's not going to happen for any other normal person - too much money, definitely not moderate. Inheriting jewels would work. I love the way old-school WASPS, aka the guilty rich, look in their frumpy clothes and big, flashy, family rocks, pulled out of the safe for the holidays. Fabulous! But I'm not an old-school WASP, my mom hocked years ago the only (sort of) big diamond in the family, and I hate frumpy clothes. I have, however, inherited some fantastic costume jewelry, big, flashy, family rocks that never need to be in a safe and look great with fashion-y clothes. MUCH more moderate, thank goodness.

So, clothes, nothing can change my mood from bad to good as fast as a flattering piece of clothing. Except a lovely glass of wine. Or some seared foie gras (OMG, that even sounds good at 10:00 a.m., especially the two together, mmm...) While I'm sure I could get VERY caught up collecting serious designer pieces, again, the pocketbook - and good sense - do not allow. Plus, at 5'11" with a 35" inseam, I have to find what fits me and just stick with it. Thank God for J. Crew pants, they have changed my life. I used to stretch my jeans in high school - hang them in the laundry room with an iron tied to the bottom of them as a weight - so they would be long enough. It sucked. And it didn't work that well. So J. Crew 35" inseam pants are much, much better. Tailored, basic, from there the fun details can be filled in - flirty and funky tops, skirts, and amazing shoes from Anthropologie (I LOVE Anthropologie, they knock off all the great seasonal trends plus add their own signature, boho twist and it all affordably WORKS). Inexpensive, trendy shoes and boots from Nine West. When the need for a true designer piece overwhelms, I peruse www.bluefly.com, and I find great deals on the real thing. Scarves - I am a scarf freak - and I love cute little evening handbags from anywhere. Even my downstairs, guest bedroom dresser. My mother-in-law, Dot, called on my birthday last week and told me to look in said dresser...when she was here this past fall, she had tucked my birthday present away to be revealed on my birthday! How clever is that, and fun! And the gift was a little handbag, from Cambodia, all silver filigree, gorgeous. Dottie (as her sons affectionately call her) always gives killer gifts - some of my best earrings are from her - and this one is unique and a total blast.

So, fragrance. I used to be a one, signature fragrance kind of girl, and then, I changed. I have a very sensitive sense of smell (helped my husband John quit smoking, because there was no cheating, no sir, I could smell that he'd smoked one cigarette 24 hours earlier...). I've decided that learning about fragrance is like learning about wine, the essences are complex and require study and memorization. It can also get VERY expensive, experimenting with fragrance, and also ridiculously time-consuming to be sampling endlessly at department stores or Sephora. I've found a terrific short-cut, an amazing website, www.makeupalley.com, the moderate epicurean's dream. MUAers, as they call themselves, review products - you can look up anything, or peruse lists by rank a la Amazon - and some of these women seriously know their fragrances. Spend an hour reading reviews and you will most certainly have an answer to the question: honey, what would you like for your birthday?

OK, off to get SOMETHING done today, laundry, cleaning, preparing for my Picture Person presentation on Wednesday at Nathan's school...not very epicurean, but totally necessary. But hey, I know how to make those tasks bearable..sneak in some little sensual pleasures. Good music while I fold laundry and clean, good coffee while I prepare my presentation. A healthy lunch and a good walk - because that dinner I made last night was delicious but left me puffy and bloated, I definitely over-indulged. And then I'm off to Coastal Seafoods for halibut, I'm making a Jacques Pepin Fast Food My Way (killer cookbook) poached halibut on fresh polenta with red pepper oil for dinner. Sounds complicated, but it's not. Wish I'd written the recipe myself. I did post it as a comment, below, if you're interested.

Well, dinner with the Williams and Rudy Maxa and his lovely girlfriend Ana Scofield was as fabulous as I had hoped - braised lamb shank, roasted beets and potatoes, several different interesting and delicious wines including an oaky (but not too oaky, to me, because I hate over-oaky wines) Sauvignon Blanc and an Australian Chardonnay for openers, and four lovely Italian reds AND a killer port with mild, creamy blue cheese for dessert. I love cheese for dessert...mmmmm... Thank you to Stu and Debbie for another incredible dinner and for introducing us to Rudy and Ana, who are a blast (Rudy's website is www.rudymaxa.com).

Tonight, Sunday, I cooked, because we usually have my sister Stacey for dinner on Sundays. Stacey and her baby-to-be, due in March, currently known as "Baby Boom-Boom," an apt name, because he is a squirm-birm, moving all over the place (as much as possible, anyhow, in Stacey's tight tummy)! I decided I was hungry for a good, spicy, tender, slow-cooked pork roast, so that's what we had. I rubbed it with cumin, chipotle chili powder, salt and pepper, browned it, then braised it with a generous amount of chopped onion and garlic for the better part of three hours. I also combined cooked diced potatoes with sauteed mushrooms, onion, pasilla peppers, and garlic, tossed it all with jack cheese, and warmed it in the oven until the cheese melted. We ate both fillings - the pork, pulled into bite-size pieces and moistened with the delicious, spicy braising liquid, and the potato cheese filling - in home-made sopas, fat little tortillas I made with masa harina and baked on a hot pan then fried in a bit of oil right before we ate. With diced avocado, crumbled queso fresco, and Frontera Grill tomatillo salsa. We had Susie's coconut cake for dessert. Again, NOT moderate, but oh so good. It was a delicious and (over) indulgent meal. Sigh. It could have been moderate and quite healthy if 1) I hadn't fried the sopas, 2) I hadn't eaten so damn much of all of it, and 3) I had stopped when I was full (as in, I didn't need the piece of cake, as yummy as it was). It's a process I haven't mastered...

Tomorrow - some exercise! One can't be a moderate epicurean without exercise! Which I actually do enjoy, especially outside. Walking is easy and beautiful here in the Twin Cities, many picture-perfect walking paths and pretty neighborhoods, including my own. I'm lucky that way. My perfect day: sleep until 8 a.m., enjoy a rich cup of coffee (decaf, I had to give up caffeine in order to sleep at night), walk for an hour outside, come home to a nice hot shower (or bath!) fragrant with Molton Brown bath products, hit my lovely Byerly's grocery store for supplies, come home, clean up the house, light some candles, turn on some music, pour myself a glass of wine, and cook an amazing dinner for my family - and myself! I have those days more often than I deserve. Hasn't always been that way, so I know how to cherish and savor my lucky days. Today was one of those days. Didn't pull off the walk, or bath, but did have a nice day with my family and sister and it was great.

So, tomorrow Nathan's back to school, and Nathan's mom is back to some semblance of a normal - moderate - routine. The holidays, including my birthday, are officially over!

OK, just to set some parameters for myself on what the hell I'm going to blog about, I thought I'd start with the definiton of an epicurean: fond of sensuous pleasures, particularly eating and drinking. Well, that's ME! I love to cook, and eat what I cook, and what others cook, and drink lots. Love it all. Love other sensuous pleasures too - I'm acutely tuned to all of my senses and strive to be surrounded by softness, warmth, beautiful things, lovely sounds, yummy smells, preferably all at the same time, as often as possible. But I also don't want to be a broke, fat, alcoholic, whining control freak, therefore the balance aspect. A moderate epicurean, that's my goal. My reason for journaling about my EFFORTS toward SAVORING will be apparent in these postings - as in, it's HARD for me!

For example, birthday was FABULOUS and completely indulgent, so much for starting my 39th year in moderation! To be fair to myself, I started the day thinking, hey, it's my birthday, I'll enjoy whatever I feel like today, no guilt. Should I have pancakes for breakfast? Sausage? Turned out no, I didn't feel like cooking, had a bowl of Cheerios, ha! For lunch Nathan, my 9-year old son, and I went bowling with my dear friend Susie and her daughter, Vivian, who is Nathan's good friend, and Vivian's little brother Sullivan. We had a blast! And I enjoyed Tuttle's Bowling Alley's bar food-ish type of food, fried cheese (having gone to college in WI, a MUST-HAVE acquired taste, along with beer and brats, although I skipped the beer since I was driving), fried mushrooms, burger, with - what else - FRIES! Then over to Susie's for a home-made birthday cake. Better-Than-Sex-Coconut-Cake, no less! With candles, my name on it, the whole nine. AWESOME cake, and so fun and special. Drinking coffee and chatting with Susie is DEFINITELY one of life's little pleasures. At this point, it was about 4:30 p.m. and Nathan and I were heading out to dinner with my husband John and stepdaughter A (she'd rather remain unnamed...), age 12, for a 6 p.m. birthday dinner at the Dakota Jazz Club. Nathan and I were STUFFED, but soldiered on, and had a lovely, albeit light, dinner, just the four of us. Here's my - birthday - version of a light dinner: salad of greens with warm goat cheese, two glasses of Riesling, and foie gras mousse and preserved quince on toasted brioche. Whew. The honeyish wine/foie gras combo is one of my favs, prrrrr... A, a soon-to-be epicurean, managed quite nicely for a tiny person and former picky eater with a Caesar salad, strip steak, potatoes, lots of bread and butter, and chocolate pot de creme for dessert. I want HER metabolism, ah, youth. After getting home, I spent until 12:30 a.m. preparing for Nathan's first day of all-day skiing with Skijammers ski club. Since I consider almost anything related to parenting also one of life's little pleasures, I didn't mind a bit. And today, tonight to be exact, will be an epicurean's delight - unfortunately I may fail at moderation again, sigh - dinner at our friends the Williams' home. OMG, Stu Williams knows WINE, he's a genius, actually, and Rudy Maxa, the Savvy Traveler will be joining us as well. I haven't met him yet, but know he's a major food/wine man himself, so we will feast on amazing food and drink fabulous wine and I'll call it an extended birthday celebration, yeah, that's what I'll do! So Happy Birthday to me...AGAIN!

Happy 39th Birthday to me! I can hardly imagine that anyone would ever want to read what I think about things - certainly the reason I only write for myself - so publishing this blog is definitely a risk for me (even if no one ever does read it!). Which seems appropriate somehow, my version of going out of my thirties with a bang. I decided to write about moderation, such a boring concept at first glance but SO HARD to achieve, especially for me but I suspect for others as well. I know from my own experiences that all things in moderation are good, truly, and yet it's a struggle, for me, to not under- or over-indulge. I use journaling as a tool for keeping myself on track, for slowing down and savoring life's pleasures - because giving up all pleasurable things is NOT a way to live - instead of impulsively devouring them. I'm better sometimes than others. This blog will basically be my journal, my thoughts and efforts and conversation about living a good life - in moderation.