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Do you prefer cooking solo or with a group? Just you and a recipe/hungry stomach/desire to make something? Or maybe you have it down to a science with your roommate/friend/spouse, etc?
If you are anything like me – I’ll take it all. I enjoy cooking alone, the rhythm of chopping and mixing, stirring, tweaking and tasting, and with some good tunes and a glass of vino, it is (obviously) one of my favorite things to do. But I also really like cooking with family and friends – getting things together for dinner or a little party, each person takes something on and the work (and clean up) is done in a fraction of the time. And it’s fun too boot.
But things can get a bit wonky when too many people are working on the same thing.
Or at least they can where I come from.
Take these Ultimate Veggie Burgers from Heidi Swanson’s 101 cookbooks. Seriously, click on the link – the picture you will see there is nothing like the one up top. And that my friends is due to too many cooks in the kitchen.
It started with the best intentions.
It has been just under two months since we have been back in California, and like most things in life, noting the time in days or months or hours does nothing to accurately describe how that time feels. At times it seems like we never left. Which is interesting because before we moved to New York, we lived in LA, so it is a bit strange to say that in San Francisco it feels like we never left, when we were never here to start.
I think it has to do with friends.
Particularly when they invite you to book signings with Alice Waters.
If that doesn’t make a gal feel at home, I don’t know what does.
It was a lovely summer evening with good friends, Negronis, pickled fresh farmstand veggies, Alice Waters and a stunning new cookbook. Read more about it and see more pics here.
And while just about everything with the move has been lovely, I haven’t found myself in the kitchen much. I know it has a little lot to do with all the amazing restaurants this city has to offer and a little bit because I can’t quite get a handle on what I want to eat. The bounty of summer says light, easy, fresh but foggy days make me yearn for warmer meals. Don’t I wish my food moods weren’t so tied to the weather? Thankfully Tyler opened up shop nearby to keep me fed while I figure it all out.
And, I think that just calls for more outings with friends.
P.S. Thanks for your patience until the cooking ramps back up.
With a recent swing of summer weddings (congrats Mr. & Mrs. L and Mr. & Mrs. S) and our one year anniversary quickly approaching, I have had a bit of wedding brain lately. And since I never really shared too many details from our own nuptials here, I figured nows as good a time as any. So if you don’t mind indulging me…
(Yell uncle if you don’t want these posts to continue – I figured I scatter a few here and there in the coming month(s)).
Since most parties and events start with the invitation, and with my recent blurb about ours, I figured all the printed goodies may be the best place to start.
As I mentioned before, my mom has really great handwriting – her basic check-writing penmanship is the stuff that people pay oodles for, so I knew we wanted to use that as the base of invites. Something about the having same handwriting on school-lunch-napkin-notes and our wedding invitations that I thought was pretty rad.
Not much to say. It is too nice to be writing or typing or reading. Blue summer skies are for doing and being. (Hopefully outside).
But occasionally we need to eat.
Fast. Fresh. Cool. Easy.
And since summer provides an abundance of zucchini, this simple salad is {another} one of my favorites. It embodies fast, fresh, cool, easy.
Thinly slice raw zucchini (use a mandoline if you have one to get tissue-paper-thin cuts, otherwise slice as thinly as possible with a razor-sharp knife). You can also add other summer squashes to the mix if you’d like. Salt and let sit for a few minutes. Drain.
Toss with lemon juice & zest and herbs of your choice (I particularly love basil and/or mint). Drizzle in a touch (or more) of olive oil.
Add a bit of cheese – goat, ricotta salata, shavings of parmigano (this version had creamy and mild but tangy farmers cheese), whatever you love {or have on hand}.
Enjoy. Quickly. Or slowly. Standing in the kitchen as a quick snack. At the dining room table as part of a lazy summer feast. Outside with good friends and cold drink. Or however you like to taken in the season.
All seasons.
Enjoy.
I don’t think I could ever tire of tomato season. Or corn. Seriously. Corn has always been one of my favorites, but growing up, me no likey tomatoes. And I tried, I tried just about every kind in every manner – I didn’t like not liking things. But nothing worked – I think it’s a texture thing. And a kid thing. Tomatoes were the one thing on most kids’ lists of things they did not like to eat. Except Jennifer, who would bring tomatoes to school with a little ziploc of salt and pepper and eat it like and apple dipped in caramel. I still can’t do that one – bite in directly – whew, the mess alone…
But thankfully I outgrew my childlike aversion to tomatoes and as soon as they come in season, I devour them as often as possible. And why not? For the other nine/ten months of the year, all I get are the canned version with a few cherry ones thrown in for good measure.
And the combination of tomatoes and corn is so obvious and that it borders on cliché, but it is just too wonderful to change. I decided to spruce up my standard version with some farro – as I love to have grain salads on hand for lunch, dinner, snacks, you name it.
Aside from the vegetable pairing, I decided to switch the rest of it up a bit.
This might just be my favorite new trick for summer.
I love just about all summer drinks – lemonades, margaritas, moon safaris, you name it – expected for one thing. The melting-faster-than-ever-ice that causes all these great drinks to be watered down way too quickly. When the temps aren’t so hot, this never seems to be as much of a problem.
Enter watermelon ice (cubes).
Cut up a watermelon (or half) into medium size chunks and arrange on a single layer on a baking sheet. Freeze uncovered until solid and then transfer to a ziploc bag or airtight container and keep in freezer or ice chest until needed. Can be made a day or two in advance.
These work best for drinks that don’t have a lot of other competing flavors, or where the watermelon would be an added bonus. It doesn’t flavor the drink too much, as it isn’t muddled or pureed and added at the last minute, but I wouldn’t add ‘em to a say bloody mary.
Since watermelon is over 90% water, it makes for my favorite fruit cubes. They keep your drink cold, non-watery, and when you are done, you’ve got a nice bit of fruit to enjoy, sangria style.
P.S. – Grapes work well this way too!
I am pretty sure that the Fourth of July is my favorite holiday. I may say that about Thanksgiving too, but I really mean it about both. Probably because they both involve crazy amounts of good food. But the 4th has sunshine! And fireworks! And summer cocktails! And oodles of friends. And well…lots of lovelies (which may account to why I am just know getting to post about it).
I must say that my first 4th in San Francisco was quite wonderful. We gathered with a big group of friends and spent the day grazing and toasting under the Golden Gate Bridge with almost enough sunshine to keep me happy.
And I’ve gotta tell you, our friends pulled out all the stops on the food. Everyone brought something(s) and I made sure to sample it all. Farro with corn, avocado and bacon. Panzanella with fresh peas and asparagus. Radish and mint tabbouleh. Out of this world caponata (currently trying to wrangle a copy of this family recipe). Spinach salad with blueberries. Watermelon salad with feta and mint. And burgers and steaks and sausages. And the desserts, whew, flag cake and lemon blueberry cheesecake bars and chocolate fudge cookies with salted caramel ice cream. Hopefully we can get some guest posts on these things because I want them all to reoccur this summer.
But to start if off, I brought gazpacho with roasted shrimp and croutons. A little something to sip on while the coals heated up and the salads were still chilling out.
Gazpacho is a summer favorite for a reason – it is cold, quick and makes use of one of the season’s greatest gifts – the tomato!
And as much as I have always loved the Spanish soup, I didn’t have a go-to receipe on hand. My friend Audra makes a version that is legendary (from her Basque sister-in-law, I believe), but she was already gone for the weekend, and so I couldn’t get much from her. Thankfully, I did get a text that said “lots of onion and garlic, not blended too much, better if it can sit overnight.”
And that, plus (more than) a little help from José Andrés, set me off it the right direction. I am happy to say I now have a go-to gazpacho.
It is amazing what a calligraphy pen can do to jazz up your standard penmanship. In elementary school, I remember trying to learn calligraphy with tracing paper, dated letters and a squared-off felt tip pen. No surprise the results weren’t pretty.
I’ve always liked calligraphy, and simply cool handwriting, partly because my mom has mastered both. In fact, I like her handwriting so much that all our wedding invitations and stationery were engraved and printed from her writing. But since my school-time trials, I haven’t done much to improve my own writing. Unless you count writing my name and those of every person I knew in class when I should’ve been taking notes. Because I have names down pat.
So as I was making invitations for an upcoming birthday weekend for Billy and a friend, I decided to give calligraphy another go. But not with the felt-tip version of my youth, but with actual nibs and ink and dipping and the whole lot. While my first attempts were hardly Jenna Hein worthy, I think they look more than okay for a boy’s b-day weekend at the lake. Plus, who can resist the white ink on dark envelopes … you know magic is inside!
The best part about it all is it is super easy to try. You can get started for under $10 – a standard black ink, a few nibs and pen holder and you are all set. For a bit (but not much) more, you can get a set or kit that has everything prepackaged and includes basic lettering styles. Once you get the hang of it, then add inks and more nibs to fit different styles and occasions. And maybe at some point I’ll even move past just prettying-up my standard handwriting using fancy supplies to actual calligraphy.
But regardless, I think this might help my letter writing and sending. The thought of putting such pretty things in the mail regularly gets my heart beating a bit faster. And yes, I know that means I need help – but we already knew that.
