Los Angeles, California

Monday, December 8, 2014

Like a sitting duck, I knew that I’d have to cash in my chips after hosting Thanksgiving for 10+ years straight.

Is it really fair to expect that your relatives will drop everything to fly during the busiest travel weekend of the year?

Though, in all honesty, it was decadent to spend almost no time in the kitchen over Thanksgiving weekend. Yes, I made sure that our bird was glossy and brown; I prepped an appetizer; but other than a few menial activities, I didn’t set foot near a chopping block except to mix myself a cocktail. Perhaps we should indulge in this “hosted not hosting” thing more often…

Traveling to LA with three kids isn’t easy, but the Shake Shack at JFK airport was a welcome sight. On principle, Rodney and I got ourselves burgers, fries and beers at 9:30AM. Because that’s what you do when you see a Shake Shack. When you win the lottery, you turn your ticket in, no exceptions.

The flight was relatively easy, and my kids, despite all of my nervousness, had nary a fatigue-induced meltdown, leaving me with 6 hours to watch 3 full-length movies. Did it matter that I kept having to pour apple juice over ice to my Disney-watching companions? Nope.

At last, we arrived! We had family rendez-vous at the Venice Pier, and so began our Thanksgiving weekend.

I have the same affliction as my Mum – whenever a camera emerges, and I’m on the wrong (e.g. lens-facing) side, I freeze like a TV dinner. That’s a 2015 resolution – smile like I mean it. Like someone just told a dirty joke, those always make me laugh.

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Savory

Steak with pomegranate and olive chimichurri

Monday, December 8, 2014

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I’ve been re-reading my copy of Jennifer Tyler Lee’s “The 52 New Foods Challenge” cookbook and finding inspiration from other cooks who’ve created recipes based on her list of 52 new Foods that kids should be trying.

If you haven’t read my post about Jennifer’s book, you learn more about her book here. Like many people at this time of year, I’ve thrown myself into all things seasonal. We’ve been drinking wintry cocktails and using the rolling pin to smash peppermint candy canes to top our hot chocolate. We’ve lugged home a tree, and decorated it with a pound of tinsel. Holidays are a full contact sport in our household. Though I have yet to bake anything since my big Christmas cake effort in November, my food has been holiday-spirited nonetheless.

Pomegranates are one of my kids’ favorite fruits although they’re still getting used to the tiny seeds. I had my own experience with new foods, so I understand their trepidation. You may recall that my stepfather gently encouraged me to eat the rind on my Brie cheese, or else – or so I was told – I would be the laughingstock of all of Paris. I learned to eat rind, our summer visit to France was a success (minus the traffic accidents. Plural.) And I came away with an understanding that foods sometimes require a little warm-up period.

Without any harsh consequences playing on their young, impressionable psyches, my kids are slowly learning to eat their pomegranate seeds without spitting out the, er, seed. They love the flavor, the juice, and the vibrant red streaks that cover their hands and get under their nails. I can’t resist pomegranate seeds either – that color! That flavor, they’re positively luminescent. So, I tend to use them abundantly during the holidays. Like gemstones, pomegranate seeds make everything a little more festive.

After my last read through the “52 New Foods Challenge” cookbook, I was excited about cooking for my kids using a mix of familiar flavors, with a few new ones. My kids are becoming more adventurous with food, and it was high time they were introduced to ingredients like garlic and soy sauce.

The ribs were a hit, and I felt confident that I could push their buttons a little further with a new recipe. Yes, we’d have some familiar foods in the form of pomegranates and steak. But I’d also introduce some new ingredients. New to them, and with one in particular – new*ish to me.

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100 new foods

Yams

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Sweet potatoes, yams, aren’t they all the same thing? In fact they’re not, with yams being starchier and drier than the orange-fleshed tubers that we’re used to seeing in the stores. And while sweet potatoes are delicious, sometimes I find them to be cloyingly sweet. Yams are a little more my speed; the kids’ reaction? Even sliced and baked into something that resembles a potato chip, yams held little appeal. One day they’ll come around…

ME: OK, guys. We’re trying a new mystery food.

SAM: Potato chips?

ME: It kind of looks like a potato chip, doesn’t it? But it’s actually not a potato chip.

SAM: What is it?!

ME: I’ll give you one. It’s a yam, like a sweet potato…but it’s white. Isn’t that interesting?

EMMA: I’m not going to have it!

ME: You don’t have to have it. You want to try it Lauren?

LAUREN: Mmm…

ME: You like it?! It’s good, right?

LAUREN: Kind of.

ME: Who else wants to try?

LAUREN: Um, why are they so hard.
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Family

Days like these…

Monday, December 1, 2014

I’m well aware that these may be the last of my Fall images. It was perfect weather until two weeks ago when the polar ice caps did their dance, vortexes (vortices?) brewed, and two unwelcome sets of Arctic winds swept through the East Coast. Fortunately we were in California last weekend and missed a cold Thanksgiving. But the weekend before, brrr……

I’m still sorting through the hundreds of images that I took on our trip to LA – I’ll post a few of those next week. My family can expect an album-length synopsis of every waking minute from touchdown to wheels up. A new camera will do that to you.

I bought my camera as an early Christmas present – to myself – which I never do. But I’ve been lusting after a new camera for years. I’d done the research, I’d picked out the lens. I’d even rented both pieces, just to be sure.

It’s a genius camera and a joy to use. I’ve loved taking it on long walks with the kids, and bought it just in time to catch the last of our Fall colors.

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Savory

Brussels sprouts with bacon and maple butter

Monday, December 1, 2014

Thanksgiving has come and gone, but let’s keep Brussels sprouts on our radar, shall we?

Festive food has its rightful place through the end of December, at which point I’ll divert my attention to a juice cleanse. Last year’s vegan attempt was a sorry excuse for a nutritional overhaul. It’s not that vegan diets don’t work – it just didn’t work for me. Rather than cooking up a rainbow of colors, I regressed to the land of beige and ate like a toddler, stuffing my mouth with hummus and crackers.

Let’s postpone any thoughts of January. It’s December 1, we’re in the last month of the year, my daughter’s birthday month, of which she’s well aware. The Winter Solstice is on its way; come December 22 the days will start to lengthen and we’re off to the races towards Summer.

It’s one of my favorite months. I turn on my holiday Pandora station for 31 straight days, and bask in the kitchen glory of making healthy foods unhealthy.

Take Brussels sprouts. The butt of snide jokes amongst the under-10 set because according to many, they’re a little too healthy.

I have a fix for that kids, it’s called bacon and butter. And not just any butter – Vermont Creamery carries a maple butter that was unquestionably ideated, cultured, and manufactured in Heaven. I used it to finish my barley risotto a few weeks ago, and I’m using it again here with Brussels.

On the stalk, mind you. If you can find them on the stalk, they’re likely to be fresher, and have the added benefit of reducing a prep step. Yes, you still have to pull off some of the outer leaves, but when you pull a sprout right off the stalk, you don’t have to trim the browning ends. Loose sprouts are fine too, just make sure that they’re firm and bright green.

If you don’t have maple butter on hand, don’t panic. You can easily finish the dish with a pat of butter and some pure maple syrup.

What you must, must, must use is good quality bacon. Thick cut – the kind that holds its shape when you cook it and doesn’t melt down into something the size of a Crest Whitestrip. That is not good bacon. Oscar Mayer may have a cute Wienermobile, but he does not make good bacon.

I cook my sprouts simply, making sure that they don’t overcook. To do this, I add some white wine, little by little, alternating with more bacon grease to build up flavor and color.

If I don’t add liquid, I find that by the time the interior of the Brussels sprouts are cooked to my liking, the outer leaves are overdone and starting to taste like cabbage. I often serve my kids food that’s been cooked with a little alcohol like gravy or beef stew – most of the alcohol cooks out anyway. But if you want to keep the alcohol out of your dish, just replace the wine with water.