OMG, how could I forget to mention one of my very favorite ways to warm up? LAUGHING, duh! And for certain, hearty laughs, I highly recommend Planet Dan's blog, one of the few blogs I (sort of) consistently read. Funny - evil, laugh out loud funny. Dan is The Man, no doubt.

Or, have dinner with Jen Leopold and Steve Katz, two of the coolest, funniest cats (Katz!) in the Minneapple (shown above at my Big 4-0 party last year, with Jon Brown on the left; oops, forgot my camera tonight...). We four had dinner at the newly-opened Nick & Eddie. Despite being big fans of Doug Anderson's previous ventures - Bakery on Grand and A Rebours - Nick & Eddie just isn't all that, I'm sorry to say. Great location! But...that's about it. Knowing Doug's previous ventures, I'll hope they find a new, groovier groove. Soon! But until then...

We head into the weekend. Thankfully warmer, the cold snap has finally snapped. And oh, things look peacefully, thankfully quiet, ahhh. My plan? To enjoy some fresh air, my friends. Fresh. Above-Zero. Air. Whatever I happen to cook (eat) is at this point completely secondary... Seriously! Well sort of.

So g'night then...

Um, at least it's sunny? Yeah. That's about all I can say, on the coldest day of the year, which here in Minnesota is a very cold day indeed. I'm trying to keep my spirits up, plying all the old, cozy tricks, and they most certainly help. What's not to love about baking bread and taking baths? But I think it was the warm break on Monday that did me in a bit, I got a good, long taste of fresh air and it's been hard to go back to being so, so housebound. Oh, I'll hang in there, like we all will, dressing in layers and sipping hot tea. But the next day that tops 10 degrees, I'm so out there for a long walk. Woo hoo for above zero weather!

Despite my complaining, I had a lovely afternoon out and about yesterday, a birthday lunch with my stepmom Susanna at Luci Ancora in St. Paul. I totally indulged in comfort food (hey, it was for my birthday!) and it was pretty incredible. Homemade fettucine as pillowy as Angelina Jolie's lips, tossed with a shower of truffly cheese, a nice amount of butter, a few pretty peas, and freshly ground black pepper. Simply. Perfect. I could have stopped right there. But no, I also had a crispy romaine salad, and split a berry fruit tart with Sus, served alongside a pile of softly whipped cream, with clever little swirls of chocolate around the plate to smear each bite through. Uff. Fullness. I think I am, now, officially done celebrating my birthday? It's been a most enjoyable ride, all eight weeks of it. Nice!

Tonight (actually, this afternoon, since we have to eat so early on Wednesdays) I'm pulling out the Chicko and roasting me a chicken. (The Julia Child method is fabulous too.) More long-cooking, kitchen-warming comfort food, yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey, I'm doing the best that I can...

If it appears I'm cooking more than usual, it's because...I am. Don't know why exactly... Overly house-bound in truly deep-freeze weather? Trying to cheer up a Blue Johnny? Whatever the reason, I'm going with it while the inspiration moves me. Bonus One, children + husband = very pleased, ha, since I even made dessert last night, which I usually only do for dinner parties or holidays. (Scrooge Mommy? Perhaps a bit, but in the name of moderation, we have to trim somewhere... And since sweets aren't "my thing," the effort goes into dinner, which is. My thing. Bah humburger.) No fancy tortes, just my stepmom Susanna's Apple Crapple (Apple Crisp), easy to assemble while Nathan and John grooved at the U2 3D movie (they loved it). Bonus Two, makes the house smell like heaven (Apple Crapple, not the U2 3D movie) and best of all - with its extra-generous crust - it's pretty insanely delicious. And Bonus Three, uber-fab the next day. Nathan had a big ol' scoop for brekkie, oh yeah, happiness.

I also baked bread (yesterday) and turned it into French Dip sandwiches for dinner - the last hurrah, and third tasty iteration, of the beef pot roast I braised on Saturday afternoon. I feel like such a Depression-Era Leftover Queen (Waste Not, Want Not!) with my hash and roast beef sandwiches. Not fancy, just rib-stickin' cheap eats which happen to taste damn gooood. Happy, happy. Happy.

Tonight, I had a bag of frozen shrimps to turn into...something. Different. Grill 'em, stir fry 'em, toss 'em with pasta, toss 'em into a salad, meh, I wanted a new groove. Something Frenchy, perhaps. Under puff pastry? Just did meat pies last week. Soup? Just did the clam version the week before. Think think think. Ooh, I know, crepes! I forget about crepes! I'll Pimp my Shrimps with crepes! Easy peasy, totally scrumptious, I whipped up a batch, and a quick, creamy sauce (not terribly rich, actually), folded the shrimps into the sauce, spooned the sauce into (and onto) the crepes, ran 'em under the broiler, et voila. Browned, crusty, shrimpy Fondue de Crustaces en Crepes (a la Julia Child, by the way; once again, thank you Julia...recipe posted in comments, below). Serve with a simple, crisp salad and you've got dinner (or a pretty, special luncheon).

Tomorrow - no balmy walk like I scored this morning. Back into the deep freeze we go, sigh. Man, it felt nothing short of amazing to be strolling bare-headed, without windpants, without huge mittens, and best of all, without a wet, soggy scarf over my face (ugh). Well, perhaps more inspired eats to cheer my about-to-be-chilly-again soul. Hey, lunch with my stepmom Susanna at Luci Ancora will be a great start! (Props for the ongoing celebration of my 41st year, yes!) Stay tuned...

Hash, not a dish people make much any longer, I suppose since it requires a few slices of leftover roast and a spot of gravy. Too bad, though, because it's a real treat and both the roast and the hash are so simple and satisfying to make. I braised a beef pot roast yesterday and made sure to squirrel away the leftovers so we could enjoy a little hash for Sunday lunch today. Finely diced meat sauteed with aromatic vegetables until deeply browned with a fine, rich glaze... John and I each enjoyed ours alongside an over-easy egg, while Nathan downed his with slabs of warm bread. The perfect Sunday-studying restorative (for him), Sunday New York Times-companion (for us), we're all set for the rest of the afternoon. (Recipe posted in comments, below.)

Unfortunately it's a rather sad day as well, the 5th Anniversary of the passing away of John's best friend, Andrew Cohen. Andrew was a major foodie, way before being "a foodie" was common or easy - the weirder the food, the better, of course - so I think of him often, especially as I get particularly jazzed about something I'm cooking, knowing he would dig it completely (he was a blast to cook for). We sure do miss him. Blah.

Well, on that note, enjoy and appreciate your loved ones on a beautiful Sunday.

Sweet, sweet Saturday. As much as I love being with my kids, every other Saturday (due to our second-marriage, share-custody status), John and I have the day to ourselves. We try to take full advantage of our limited - yet usefully predictable - alone time and have ourselves a fine Saturday (lemons to lemonade as they say, not that I'd suggest divorce and remarriage as a "fun" way to find alone time as a couple, Lord no; but hey, we all have to find and polish life's duller benefits wherever they exist).

We usually scrape out a tasty brunch or lunch of some sort (if not a movie as well), either here at the hacienda or at, you know, La La Lucia's. Today, it was here, with leftovers from my high-input-yet-solo dinner last night. John had a work thang, but I was in the mood to cook, so I made myself (as I had mentioned) Watercress Soup with Gentleman's Relish Toast as well as grilling up a few lamb rib chops. Oh Good Lord, I had such a good meal by myself it was almost obscene as I talked, sang, danced, and laughed through the preparation.

Best of all - plenty of leftovers for today's lunch, which we just happily, heartily consumed. With sips of the holiest of wines, our beloved Turley Zinfandel, this time a 2003 Lodi Zinfandel, Dogtown Vineyard. Sigh. We only pull out the Turley if I've worked really hard on a meal, and it's turned out particularly deliciously, and this meal qualified. Charred, salty lamb chops, followed by creamy, spicy watercress soup, bathing a crispy, chewy, herb-buttered crouton... Ridic, really, and best consumed in a lavender-scented garden somewhere in Provence (the window in the pic makes me want to leap right through, sniffing deeply as I crash-land, ahhh...), but we made due with our own - because, you know, we had to - winter-in-Minnesota kitchen. Cold, gray skies warmed by Larry Turley and Suzanne Goin, as it were. And perhaps (!) a bit of my own enthusiasm for eating and sipping heartily and well with my Johnny on a Saturday's afternoon...

No complaints here, my friends, none at all. (Well, perhaps one tiny complaint - as in, it's over! Lunch is gone, wine is put away, sniff. Always the moderate epicurean's dilemma - knowing when to call it quits. Shucks. Time for a cup of really strong coffee - nothing signals "the end" of a meal like a great cup of coffee.)

Party Crasher, that's me! John's law firm hosted a meet-n-greet with an accounting firm last night and with permission (I wasn't a total crasher), I happily horned in on the delicious appetizers (catered by the Modern Cafe), vino, and chat. Organized by John's partner Jennie Clark, who is on the board of the Minnesota Center for Photography, the event was held at...the Minnesota Center for Photography! Terrific space, with a stunning current exhibit (Three Gorges), I had a great time and stayed (crashed!) just long enough for John and me to snag Stu The Wine Genius and drag him out for dinner with us. The MCP is in NE Minneapolis, and Stu remembered the fun dinner at The Sample Room we'd had with his wife Debbie, Rudy Maxa, and Ana Scofield (our pre-Napa planning dinner), so we bopped over there for casual eats. Setting = lovely, food = not so much, but we had a great time anyhow and dished on Tuesday night's Commanderie dinner, so it was all good, all good.

Today, Friday Morning Coffee with Suz, of course. More upbeat than a couple of weeks ago (we didn't cover the Holocaust or talk politics today), we were back to our usual shrieking and howling primly (bah ha ha!) about bodily fluids, oh yeah! Not so great for anyone near us trying to enjoy a quiet cup of coffee, but fabulous for my frozen winter spirits! All hail Suz the Metal Mommy!

Since I've eaten out no less than four times this week - FOUR - I'm mos def making din tonight. It's my turn for a go at the Watercress Soup with Gentleman's Relish Toast recipe I posted a few weeks back. I'm grilling the lamb chops too, oh yeah, we'll be ushering in the weekend in fine (watercressy, lamby) style.

Enjoy yours!

Meat pies! Rarrr! In whatever form - samosas, pasties, empanadas - the combination of savory meat and vegetables encased in tender pastry is irresistible. To me. And apparently to John and Nathan too. Before I abandoned my family for the Commanderie dinner on Tuesday night, I played the good wife and mother and tried out a recipe I'd pulled from Gourmet magazine last year for Beef and Curry Pies. Nathan helped me roll out and cut dough so that in no time he and John had hot, crispy meat pies for dinner, while I was whisked off for downtown (smelling rather of curry, a strange combination with my beloved Le Parfum de Therese, to be sure) by Stu and Debbie. The recipe in theory serves 8, but there were no leftovers between the two of them, so... I'll adjust the serving size accordingly (!) in the posted recipe (in comments, below).

If you're not in the mood to roll and cut dough (which with frozen puff pastry really doesn't take very long), I'd suggest empanadas from El Meson. Their empanadas are absolutely perfect. Tender, flaky crust filled with garlic-studded beef, with a hint of sweetness, dipped in fiery salsa... Shut. Up. I crave 'em, with cold beer, although I really only achieve them once a year. Perhaps tonight's the night, I'll have to think on that for a bit. What say ye, Johnny?

For lunch today I get to cash in on the efforts of yesterday, when I took the time to simmer a homemade chicken stock. (I use a couple of pounds of chicken thighs, brown them thoroughly in olive oil, then toss hunks of carrots, celery, garlic, and onion into the pot, with a handful of fresh herbs, water to cover, simmer partially covered- skimming often - for 2 hours. Strain carefully - discard solids - season liberally. If not using right away, cool to room temp, uncovered, then chill.) We had the hot stock as a sort of make-your-own-chicken-noodle-soup, with cooked egg noodles, sauteed veggies (asparagus tips, onion, mushrooms, carrots), grated gruyere, and chicken breast pieces (from a rotisserie chicken) as optional add-ins. With a loaf of crusty bread, it made a good, hot, filling meal on a ridiculously cold night. Even my nephew Cooper Cuteness had a few tastes of the rich broth! Coop de Loop does soup!

Madame Stephanie Levy - c'est moi, at least at the Commanderie de Bordeaux dinner I attended this evening, as a guest of Stu (The Wine Genius) and Debbie Williams. Held at the Minneapolis Club, featuring the wines of Chateau Smith-Haut-Lafitte and winemaker Daniel Cauthiard, I had a grand old time eating, drinking, and BS-ing with the various Commandeurs. M. Cauthiard himself was a lovely guest-of-honor, charming, handsome, and perfectly French (but of course). Chef John Thompson and his staff did a spectacular turn with the food, menu as follows:

Oyster Souffle with Parmesan "Air" (delicious)
Butter Roasted Breast of Pheasant with Pommes Gratin and Jus Lie (divine)
Crispy Braised Lamb Shank (in phyllo) served over White Asparagus and Spinach (unctuous)
Assorted French Cheeses (spot on)
Warm Mano Pave a la Tatin with Mango Soup, Roasted Raspberries and Vanilla Tuile

And wine:
Chateau Smith-Haut-Lafitte Blanc 2000 Pessac-Leognan
Chateau Smith-Haut-Lafitte Blanc 2005 Pessac-Leognan
Les Hauts-de-Smith 2005 Pessac-Leognan
Chateau Smith-Haut-Lafitte 2000 Pessac-Leognan
Chateau Smith-Haut-Lafitte 1998 Pessac-Leognan
Chateau Smith-Haut-Lafitte 1995 Pessac-Leognan
Chateau Suduiraut 2001 Sauterne

And guests:
My dinner partner was Commandeur Ralph Bashioum, MD, who along with table-mate/Commandeur/race-car driver/winemaker Peter Kitchak, just happens to be in the process of producing and introducing a new set of Napa Valley wines. Stay tuned for Kitchak Cellars greatness...

Also chatted with:
Greg Becker, from our lovely dinner at Rudy Maxa's and Ana Scofield's back in December, as a guest of Commandeur Steve Fox. And Commandeur Bill McGuire, who is significantly taller than me, even in my 5-inch kickass anniversary Louboutins (no small feat, no pun intended, ha). Rock on!

So there, my friends, another night of Stu-and-Debbie-sponsored greatness... delicious food, lovely wine, great chat, it's all good. Thanks to them (yet again!), and the Commanderie de Bordeaux (Minnesota Chapter), and winemaker Daniel Cathiard, for a spectacular Tuesday night (Tuesday!).

Oh! Stu hilariously introduced me (as a guest) tonight as follows: "Stephanie writes a blog called The Moderate Epicurean. After traveling, eating, and drinking wiith Stephanie, I can honestly say she is anything but moderate." So true, so true! Although I do subtitle my blog "A Quest for Measured Pleasure." As in, Moderation is an Elusive Goal Which Someday I'll Achieve, Right?

Sleep tight! (And rest in peace Heath Ledger.)

Dinner and a movie, pretty hard to beat. Even (or especially?) on a bitterly cold, slippery-snowy evening. John and I hit a late-afternoon showing of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, the intense true story of French Elle publisher Jean-Dominic Beauby. Beauby, at the age of 42, suffered a sudden, massive "cerebral event" which left him with "locked-in syndrome" - a fully functional intellect trapped inside an immobile body. He could hear, and blink his left eye...but that's it. Dedicated therapists worked out an eye-blinking code so that he could communicate, and he eventually used it to dictate the memoir that the movie is based on. The story is far too grim and frightening to be uplifting, but it's powerful, and redemptive, and I walked out feeling a little dazed. (John loved it.)

As often happens to me, the setting of the film stirred cravings for the featured culture and food, in this case French. (Italian movie, Italian food. Asian movie, Asian food. Heck, a strain of a Mexican tune conjures a hankering for margaritas and guacamole. I'm hopeless.) So off we went to our favorite little bistro, Cave Vin, for Gallic treats. To start, half-price bottles of wine on Monday nights, a particularly sweet bonus given their lovely wine list. Smokin-hot frites with crushed garlic (but of course). Plump, tender mussels bathed in a perfect lemony-garlicky broth (insert copious amounts of crusty baguette, soak briefly, sigh deeply). A crispy-roasted chicken breast, with fresh herbs stuffed under the skin, served alongside simple sauteed vegetables. A few decadent bites of a warm chocolate pot-de-creme. And with sips of strong coffee to finish, and chats with the tables on either side of us (we happened to know both parties, random), we rolled on out into the snowy cold, (temporarily) blissfully unaware of its nasty bite given the protective presence of warm food and drink. Oooh, bon, bon, bon. Date Night!

And tonight, more French fabulousness, this time with Stu The Wine Genius and his lovely wife Debbie. Stu belongs to the Twin Cities' chapter of a Bordeaux wine-enthusiasts group (wine frat!) called the Commanderie de Bordeaux. Commanderie members host dinners and wine tastings, called parlements, and occasionally invite guests to attend. Tonight's parlement will feature the wines of Chateau Smith-Haut-Lafitte. Tonight's guest list will include - moi! John was invited too, but he wussed out because he gets too overwhelmed by multi-course, multi-taste dinners. I surprisingly (har) dig them wildly and can't wait. Yay! I'll check in with the details tomorrow.

Until then, stay warm, my friends!

Oh Good Lord it's cold out there, too cold for just about anything, really. You know what that means - get busy in the kitchen! Build a roaring fire, sip hot cocoa, take a long fragrant bath, watch movies in bed, read a book in your sweats... Ooh, some of my very favorite things, I'm not complaining, not one bit. Bring it on, Old Man Winter, bring it on.

Hunting for spicy inspiration? An apparently 20-year-old Suz had me over for lunch on Friday to taste a delicious recipe for Cashew Chili. Completely vegetarian (vegan, in fact), it's as spicy as you want it to be, with a hint of crunch and sweetness to keep it interesting. Such a perfect girlie lunch on a bitterly cold Friday! Warmed by lots of hot coffee, and date/chocolate chip snack cake for dessert, we chatted the afternoon away. Ahhh...how I love my girlfriends, yay! (The other pic, below? The slab of nuked meatloaf smothered with American cheese and ketchup? That is called contrast, my friends, and was what Suz's hubby The Coreman ate for his lunch while making fun of our picture-perfect, healthy eats. Noooo, Coreman, noooo, don't eat it! Not that I don't love meatloaf, because sometimes I do. It's the American cheese-ketchup combo on top that sticks in my craw, eek.)

Hunting for sweet inspiration? My stepmom Susanna made the perfect Apple Crisp for dessert a few weeks ago - tender apples under a buttery, cinnamony crust. Served warm (of course), with a scoop of melty vanilla ice cream...mmm... Her mom Shirley affectionately called it Apple Crapple, but I call it Apple Heaven. (Recipes posted in comments, below.)

Or, you could send your beloved out for tempting Thai takeout, from True Thai in Minneapolis, which is where I met my former boss Jim Toscano's daughter Dania for lunch yesterday. It's her spot and I'm very grateful for the introduction. Cozy and friendly, and full of regulars well after the Saturday lunch hour (good sign!), the food is absolutely delicious. We shared a red curry of squash and mock duck, stir-fried cashews (dangerously addictive), and fried rice with beef. I woke this morning with True Thai dreams on my lips (smack!), wishing to go back again today... But no such luck (closed on Sundays), sniff. Luckily we had some leftover cashews to carry us over a bit, but it's not the same as a whole meal of savory Thai delights... Very soon. I've awakened a sleeping Thai monster in this household with my leftovers, stay tuned...

And so! Enjoy heating up (wink!) your cold Sunday! And frigid Monday! And frosty Tuesday...

Savor. I forget to savor. How ridiculous, I know, given my obsession with all things sensual, but it's a discipline, to savor, and I've far from mastered it. In fact, I've concluded that forgetting to savor is my biggest obstacle to achieving seamless moderation. I get so, so excited about something I'm cooking, or eating at someone else's home, or in a serious restaurant, that I just blindly dive in. Hot, crispy frites? Silky, truffly risotto? Woo friggin' hooooo!

Hey, I'm all for enthusiasm (hell yeah!), but sometimes... Perhaps often... I'm rather, um, inelegant about it all. I eat way too fast. I talk way too much. So. My latest takeaway from French Women Don't Get Fat is to Slow. Down. Stephanie. Chew, seriously chew, my food. Sip, slowly sip, my wine. Think about it, taste it, savor it. When I do, my enjoyment explodes. In fact, as far as disciplines go, this one's a pretty big duh - no downsides, only positives. So that's my New Year's resolution (I hadn't made one yet) - To Savor.

(And to walk more, spend less time on the computer, write more thank you notes, drink more water, keep my desk clean. Volunteer more. Be a nicer person. And figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Amen.)

Wild Wednesday! Yeehaw! My once-a-week window into what it would be like to have a really big family - everyone in the kitchen, all talking at the same time, the kids (sort of) doing homework, John (sort of) working, Stacey and I (sort of) chatting, everyone playing with Cooper, all while I make a big, messy dinner. And an early dinner, since everyone's dashing out the door by 5:50 p.m., off to various Wednesday night events. I prefer an early dinner myself, so it's absolutely fine by me to be sitting around the dining room table at 5 p.m., everyone still talking at the same time, laughing at Cooper's Chatty Cuteness, and discussing the pros and cons of the various components of our meal. Everyone's a critic, of course, especially my kids. Tonight's crispy oven-roasted chicken drummies are pretty universally well-loved, except by Nathan, although he digs the accompanying sticky rice with pan juices plenty fine. (The pic is actually from the summer, when I add garden tomatoes to the pan juices. In January, no garden tomatoes, sniff, although the juices are darn tasty anyhow.)

As a bonus, Stace arrived with Whole Foods goodies that everyone happily dug into - spicy nuts, olives, and coconut cupcakes for dessert, yay!

If you're looking to brush up on your moderation skills for the New Year (Lord knows I am, ha), I highly recommend a read (or re-read!) of French Women Don't Get Fat, The Secret of Eating for Pleasure by Mireille Guiliano. A fast, blast of a read, packed with a ridiculous amount of common sense, you'll put the book down with a smile on your lips and a sensible (and thankfully un-American, in this case) perspective on the delights of preparing and savoring simple, real food and treating your body with respect. The Moderation Bible, as it were. C'est bon.

In that vein, I offer a couple of fish recipes, from the gorgeous Balthazar Cookbook. On the days I most fully embrace moderation, I turn to fish. I've said this before, I know, but it's quick to cook, and delicious to eat, and afterward I feel satisfied and nourished and not at all weighed down. The first recipe is for Cod Mitonee, a crisp-sauteed cod filet served over a thin slice of toasted, crusty bread, floating in a simple, aromatic broth (the lovely pic is from the book). I'm quite sure the recipe would work well for any of your favorite firm, white fish.

The second recipe is also gorgeous-yet-nourishing, Warm Salad of Grilled Trout. Wilted greens under grilled fish, studded with crunchy walnuts and drizzled with tangy balsamic vinegar. Lordy.

Enjoy, ye Masters of Moderation! (Recipes posted in comments, below.)

I am on such a soup kick lately, not sure what gives, other than I haven't been feeling 100%. Not downright sick, but just not great either, and my tummy peeps for soup! soup! Especially after my walk this morning - hello zero degrees - ouch! (Really, it hurt, and took me a long time to thaw out despite dressing appropriately... mos def not fun.)

So tonight I made a rib-stickin' classic, New England Clam Chowder, which of course is best made with fresh clams (and their juices), but the Cooks' Illustrated pantry version is a damn close second. Most critically not thick and goopy, like so many restaurant versions (whassup up with that?), it's creamy/brothy, chock full of bacon and potatoes and clams...salty, briny fabulousness. Especially with a piping hot loaf of crusty bread (I luckily had a Toast-to-Bread brand whole-grain baguette stashed in the freezer...mental note to replace it, handy and delicious).

In less than an hour, one of the most flavorful soups you'll ever sip (slurp!) from a spoon. Goodness. Yeah.

I love the peppery bite of watercress, in salads, on sandwiches, and very much in soup, where it tastes like spring, mmm. Oh, I know that we are very, very, very (sigh) far from spring (in this neck of the woods, anyhow), but what better reason to slurp a breath-of-fresh-air little soup-tasty, spring-inspired but still completely cozy, creamy, and warm? I've included a recipe from the lovely Sunday Suppers at Lucques cookbook, by Suzanne Goin, perfectly appropriate since it's, well, Sunday, and you might be looking for an idea for, well, supper! And since watercress (and other fresh herbs) are now available year-round at almost every grocery store, why the heck not? So here it is...McGrath Farms' Watercress Soup with Gentleman's Relish Toast - crispy, salty anchovy-toasts afloat in a classic, creamy watercress soup. Delightful. To be really decadent, grill up a few small, crusty lamb rib chops and eat 'em right off the bone as a little appetizer. Lick your fingers. Sip a Pinot Noir. Savor your creamy, peppery soup. Lick the spoon. Nibble a piece of soft cheese with slices of ripe pear for dessert. Kiss your sweetie. Ouch. Man, if that won't chase away the January blues, I don't know what will. (Recipe posted in comments, below.)

Oh wait, yes I do! A girlie, giggly late-afternoon cruise with Suz and Kim! Yes, one more birthday celebration (tee hee) coming up later today. A long, lazy drive over to St. Paul, along the creek, over the river, down stately Summit Ave, ending at Sweeney's Saloon. Yep, I chose a burger-beer outing to celebrate with my minxes, followed by a long-overdue Feminine Hijinx session. We have yet to podcast in Suz's new home! No more sipping wine and cackling from the "naughty pine," sniff, we'll have to rechristen our new recording space. Stay tuned...

A definition:

Stomach: a saclike distensible enlargement of the alimentary canal located between the esophagus and small intestine; it stores food, adds gastric juices, begins the breakdown of proteins and churns food into a liquid mass.

Um, ew. Liquid mass? Way to make eating seem
totally disgusting (ha). Perhaps I should read that (Webster's) definition every time I get hungry for things I shouldn't be eating. It's definitely way ruder to imagine pizza or a burger as a liquid mass in the middle of my body than say, strawberries, which just sounds like a smoothie. A semi-digested rather acidic stomach smoothie.

Sorry. I've been in a wicked sh*t of a mood the last few days, John too, we've written it off to prolonged lack of sunlight. The post-holidays, post-birthday, snow-sucks-after-Christmas blues. You know it, too, I know. Meh. I've even been trading emails with Suz bemoaning the idiocy of the masses and chatting over coffee this morning (Friday Morning Coffee with Suz!) about the Holocaust. Egads. But I'll admit, I'm not opposed to using the saclike distensible enlargement of my alimentary canal to cheer myself up, namely through the filling of it with lovely (at least before chewing into a bolus) foods and the occasional sip of wine and/or bubbly.

Like last night. Date Night! Movie followed by dinner with John at (Uptown) Campiello. I know it's not all about Campiello the way it was when the place opened, but it was still festively hopping on a Thursday night and the food - D'Amico knows what the heck they're doing - was delish. We particularly loved the king crab appetizer - pieces of butter-tender crab tossed with julienne carrots, jalapeños, and scallions, served alongside a horseradish panne cotta. Unusual and spectacularly delicious, with a cool-creamy, sweet-spicy-crunchy thing going on. Our entree was a bit more traditional - ziti tossed with lemon zest, dried peppers, garlic, olive oil, and Parm. Simple, chewy-spicy deliciousness. Nothing makes a cooler (smoother?) bolus than king crab and ziti. Rad.

And lunch today, yum. At Yum Bakery, my mom treated Stace, Cooper, and moi to a post-Stephanie-is-41-(sigh) celebration. Yum Bakery is the perfect girlie lunch spot - sunny and buzzy, with a long list of spot-on comfort food tasties. Mom and I chose the salad sampler - good ol' fashioned tuna, egg, and chicken salads (with modern twists all of them, top-notch) spread on fresh foccacia bread. Cream of mushroom soup. Stace and Coop shared beef stew. We all dived into frites (but of course). And Happy Birthday to me...coconut cake. YESSS! Sooo good, a real, buttery scratch white cake, filled with coconut custard and iced with white icing and showered with sweetened, flaked coconut. Just exactly how it's supposed to be, ridiculously sweet and rich. Love, love, LOVED it.

Tonight? Uh, I'm not very hungry? Funny thing, ha. What to eat on a not-hungry night? Well, there's always the option of nothing, but that's not very weekendy. Or moderate. So I'm leaning toward a simple quesadilla - two French Meadow (Fat Flush, worst product name evar) sprouted grain tortillas, sprinkle of cheese, toast in a pan until melty and dip in some spicy Salsa Lisa. Few hundred cals, five minutes to prepare, tasty (essential), done.

Happy Sunless Weekend! (Grumble.)

And oh! Another reason to eat monounsaturated fats (as in avocados, olives, and nuts.)

C-H-I
L-L-Y
I ain't got no coat
that's why I'm chilly,
I'm chilly,
BRRRRR!

It's not even cold outside - in fact, we're in the midst of a January thaw - but I had a hankering for hearty (bean-optional!) chili tonight anyhow, and every time I make it I think of the above silly rhyme (a take-off on the "U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi..." chant). My crazy sorority sister Laura Robeson made it up, while on a road-trip visit to the University of Iowa for a Badger-Hawkeye football game. The weekend opened with sunny skies and temps in the mid-80s, then suddenly plunged into the low 50s... In mini-skirts and tank tops, we Gamma Phis were COLD. As we sassed around bar-hopping (of course), chasing boys (of course), and shivering and whining about freezing to death, Laura started chanting the above rhyme. Pretty soon we were all chanting (screaming) it and cracking up and miraculously feeling much warmer. Try it some time when you're freezing, it really works!

Or, just have a bowl of chili. Perhaps not as fun as bar-hopping, chasing boys, chanting, or cracking up...but still, gooood stuff.

Happy 2nd Birthday Moderate Epicurean Blog!

And hey, it's a very Happy 41st Birthday for me as well - very happy. As I celebrate, I can't help but be incredibly grateful for a pretty awesome year. Oh, plenty of ups and downs of course, of the usual variety...but for now, the gratitude abounds. In leaps and bounds! Sniff. I'm living my life's current passion - cooking, sharing food with friends and family, and writing about it all. I'm making exactly zero money doing it, but hopefully that won't be true forever. Right here, right now, It's All Good. Thanks for sharing this little adventure with me!

My first official birthday present was this stunning portrait (above) from - who else? - my sister Stacey. A Stacified Stephanie, YESSS, I love it! I brought it home New Year's Eve and waited until today to post a pic. How many of us actually have our portrait painted? And so beautifully! It's so, so...WASP-y, which as Suz would point out, is totally metal! And of course it makes me look much more fabulous than I actually am, bless my sister's heart. I told Nathan that when he's an old man, and I'm long gone, he can point it out to his grandkids and say, that's your great-grandma Stephanie, back in the day. A little slice of immortality. Now that's a birthday gift!

As was brunch at Lucia's this morning, with Nathan, John, Cooper, and Stacey, a sunny, quiet celebration. Which, given this holiday season, is all I was up for, truly. Nathan and Coop played superheroes while I played poached eggs over sausage hash alongside salad greens. I do love warm eggs with crisp salad, delicious. Oh, and I scored more bling (YES!), and flowers from Nathan, and had just the loveliest time.

La Belle Vie! Joyeux Anniversaire a moi! Well, almost. As usual, the celebration - of, in this case, the end of my 41st year - involves more than one day. Which I love! Yeah, it rather sucks to have a birthday so close to Christmas...the combo Christmas/birthday gift totally bites - and yet, it does somehow stretch out the celebration into something long, slow, and mellow, and I can't one bit complain about that.

So tonight, two days early, the celebration began in earnest, in the stunningly elegant bar at La Belle Vie, just John and me, YES! Bling (including a beautiful new bracelet from Suz), frites (it's no birthday sans frites), langoustines (fried shrimps), vino (Cote de Rhone), and chocolat (in several forms, with a lovely birthday message!) made for a fabulous beginning to this all-about-my-birthday (wink) weekend.

Stay tuned... I plan to celebrate quietly, yet nicely...

Okay. It's over. Not just 2007, but the parties, cocktails, appetizers, rich meals, excess good cheer - over! Enter ye moderation (in fact, a little deprivation wouldn't hurt at this point) and reside in thee for a spell. Please? At least until my birthday this weekend...

Hey, there's nothing wrong with risotto, cream puffs, chocolate mousse, prime rib, mashed potatoes, lobster, champagne, or caviar - a sip and a taste of something lovely can always fit into a healthy diet - it's just the all-in-the-same-week aspect that is a bit, uh, immoderate. Heck, often all in the same day! Egads but it's been a very Merry Christmas. Whew.

And so. It's a New Year and time for a slice of...cold, hard reality. Or at least a plate of pretty salad greens alongside a nice piece of fish. Or a bowl of brothy soup. A mug of hot tea. A lovely ripe pear. A handful of raw almonds. My go-to restorative, depuffing foods. In fact, several such meals in a row, followed by several long, brisk walks, and I'll be feeling like myself again in no time.

Right?

Happy 2008! Hey, did you ring in the New Year quietly (as in, asleep!) or with a stylie bang? Somewhere in the middle for us, a relaxing party at Stacey's beautiful home with family (Dad, Sus, David, Etta, Mom, John, and Nathan) and friends (including Suz, Cory, Vivian, and Sullivan). We gathered post-dinner, so tasties were of the snack variety, hummus, mini-quiches, shrimp cocktail, brownies, fruit with chocolate, and the Dates with Goat Cheese Wrapped in Prosciutto I posted a few weeks back, which are absolutely delicious (I revised the recipe to 1/2 date each, I think that ratio is better, recipe will reflect that note).

We ladies put in an effort to spiff up a bit. Susanna and Etta wore fabulously festive garments that had belonged to Susanna's famously stylish mother, Shirley. I donned some serious rhinestone bling that had belonged to my mom's mother, Betty. And Mom, John, Suz, and David wore Christmas present fancies - Mom the sweater I gave her (as she models below), John his new tie from Stacey, Suz her bracelet from moi, and David his new hat, also from...moi. Yays!

After a few lightning-fast, uber-competitive rounds of group Pictionary, we all watched The Ball drop from Cooper's playroom TV, stepping around toys and quickly pouring champagne that no one really wanted. Happy New Year! And then we were collectively wiped and very ready for our first sleep of 2008. (Wow, 2008, sounds like some weird science-fiction date, but no, at least not yet. Here I am, 40-something in 2008. Crazow.)

So today! New Year's Day! We just watched Wisconsin lose their Outback Bowl game against Tennessee (boo!) while downing Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches made with leftover steak (hurrah!). Now I'm about to crack another book (I read Cormac McCarthy's The Road on Saturday, devastating, intensely depressing, and beautiful all the same - don't read it if you're feeling even a bit down or it'll do you in), nothing like starting off the new year with a great book. Yes!

So Happy Moderate Epicurean New Year, my bloggy friends! Happy Eating and Exercise and Working and Family and Travel and Reading and Health! Cheers!