CityMama™

Mother's Day [in photos]

Look at this krajee girl. Even though I said "no gifts" (and say it every year), I was surprised with hot tea in bed and these beautiful, wooden salad bowls. The fourth wouldn't stay on her nose.

Bunny made this poster to go with her gift of a ceramic spoon rest shaped like her hand. (I will treasure it always.)  Apparently, despite my benign neglect, I am really good at taking care of her.

Speaking of Mother's Day surprises, I was told I was named one of Forbes' Ten Mommy 'hood Gurus along with some of my favorite people like her and her, so I had to go look. That was truly an unexpected treat.

I managed to convince J. to come to hippie church with me (no small feat) for the flower communion where we learned about a true hero.

Then we lunched here, where J. and I had one of our very first dates...

...on this. And we wept tears of joy because the crispy, parsley-laden falafels were so delicious.

We went home and relaxed a bit, then I treated my family to haircuts and we spent the afternoon walking around the mall.  We like to do that on the weekends, it's kind of our "thing." Wallie will tell you we go there to "look at stores" and "get dried mango."

And we had a crazy shellfish feast for dinner because all I really wanted to do on Mother's Day was continue the party with my family.

It was a beautiful day. Hope yours was, too.

Corned beef and cabbage

It was frickin' delicious.

New Year's Eve 2008

Perfect Korean pear. It always reminds me of New Year's.

We passed a mellow evening at home. We had sashimi and sushi and a Southern-style dinner (pics follow). I'm not sure when my family started eating black-eyed peas on New Year's or how that even became a tradition in a Korean-Italian family, but so be it. The black-eyed peas that were simmered with a ham hock from our Christmas lunch were purchased in an Indian market. That gave me a chuckle. What a country we live in, huh?

Friends stopped by on their way to and from dinners and parties which made our evening more festive, and by 10:00 PM, the girls were in bed, and J. and I were on the couch sipping champagne and watching a movie.

Happy New Year, dear CityMama readers!  May your 2009 be full of peace, prosperity, and joy.

—Stefania

They're not resolutions, they're intentions.

I don't make resolutions. Too much guilt involved when I inevitably fail. How about you?

New Year's Dinner: CityMama's Slow-Baked Brisket

I just posted a lamb recipe for another New year's dinner idea, but if beef is more your thing, read on!

We always eat black eyed peas for New Year's and this year, since we'll be keeping it mellow and I can cook anything I want, I settled on brisket to go with the creamy peas.  I perused some recipes from around the interwebs and all of them seem to have the same idea in common: bake it slow and low for hours and hours in some kind of marinade, then devour when it's fork-tender.

A lot of recipes also have liquid smoke in common. I am not a fan of the flavor of liquid smoke (and I'm not even sure what it is), I just know that I didn't want those chemicals on my brisket so I opted for a more natural alternative that I hoped would give the same smoky results: alderwood smoked salt. (Hickory smoked salt would also work.)

New Year's Dinner: Butterflied leg of lamb with feta and olives

For Christmas, my sister gifted me a boneless leg of lamb (yes, we're that kind of family) and instead of my usual rosemary-garlic treatment, I decided to Greek it up with olives and feta. If you are looking for an easy and elegant New Year Eve or Day dinner, this is just the thing, and best of all, you don't need a lot of fancy ingredients.

Pie. My holiday gift to you. [giveaways]

Fellow pie people, this giveaway is for you.

Thanks to the folks at Pillsbury, one lucky CityMama reader is going to win a Pillsbury gift package featuring Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crusts and an assortment of culinary goodies including two 9-inch glass pie pans, a pie server, pie-top cut-outs and a CD-ROM with photos and pie recipes.  (Pie crusts not shown in picture.)

I love to make pies and have to say that I prefer pie over cake. My family is the same and Bunny even brough cherry pies to celebrate her birthday at school instead of cupcakes. The pie was a huge hit, especially with the teachers!

I admit though, that I usually purchase frozen pie crusts and I do this for two reasons. One is that frozen pie crusts are actually really, really good now. If you are going to take a short cut in the kitchen, go with the frozen pie crusts.  (Gotta come clean: I normally buy an organic brand that tastes just as good as my homemade, but damn you Pillsbury cinnamon rolls, why do you have tto be so delicious?)

The second reason I buy frozen pie crusts is that I am no good at rolling out dough. Every time I do it I curse and it has nothing to do with the rolling itself, it's the fricking flour. That gets everywhere. And makes a big, giant mess. I have a thing about messiness. I'm working on it. 

ANYWAY.

The giveaway.  It would be a nice treat for you or would make a fine holiday gift, don't you think?

All you have to do is leave a comment below telling me your favorite kind of pie (sweet, savory, or quiche). A winner will be chosen at random on Sunday, December 21 so that your pie package can be shipped out on Monday get to you on (or before) Christmas Eve. Please be sure to leave a working email so I can contact you.

Update: CONTEST CLOSED!

Congrats to Leah, lucky #39, for winning the pie contest!! Thanks everyone for playing!

Scenes from Thanksgiving weekend 2008

It was a weekend full of food and family and deep thinking. More on that later, but for now, this is how we passed the time. It was pretty great.

Homemade gravlax...

Lots of dill is the key for me.

48 hours later, slice thinly and serve with mustard sauce.

The alien cauliflower that became a delicious three cheese, prosciutto, and cauliflower casserole.

The cranberry-walnut-blue cheese tart that everyone was too full to eat so it's now in my freezer.

Bunny reads her Thanksgiving poem as uncle and cousin look on.

My little beauties. Aren't their outfits cute? ;-)

Our Thanksgiving Menu

I finalized my Thanksgiving shopping today. We've been through the farmer's market, the regular market, and I think it's safe to say that there is nothing left to buy at Costco, we cleaned it out. P.S. If you haven't bought your turkey yet, Costco has organic fresh turkeys for a little over $2.25/lb. That's practically the same price as those hormone- and antibiotic-laden Butterballs, so hie thee to your Costco for a better-for-you turkey.

Our menu is truly a collaborative effort as you will see. Our focus is mostly on seasonal, local foods, but a couple of side dishes were picked mainly because they just sounded so damn good. I'm cooking two turkey's this year because we got two smaller ones instead of one biggie, and I wanted to do one on the grill and one in the oven. So without further ado, I present, the Butler Family Thanksgiving 2008.

Appetizers (this is what we'll nosh on throughout the day while we watch the parade and football)

• Auntie Jill's (my sister's) Famous Clam Dip and Potato Chips
• Homemade gravlax (from local wild salmon) and mustard sauce
• Salumi (bresaola, fennel salami, prosciutto, Serrano ham)
• Assorted cheeses (P'tit Basque, Triple Cream Explorateur, Pt. Reyes Blue) w/ bread and crackers
• Crudités & olives
• Zia Gabriella's Salmon Mousse (made by my sister)

Then we will all go for a loooooooooong walk.

Thanksgiving Dinner (served at dinner time)

• Auntie Sheila's Mimosa Turkey done on the grill (basted with champagne, orange juice, and butter—will post recipe!)
• Traditional Turkey with Whiskey glaze
• Mashed Potatoes
• Twice-baked potatoes
• La Brea Bakery Stuffing
• Fresh Cranberry-Orange Sauce
• Gravy
• Green beans (still deciding on preparation)
• Walnut, Blue Cheese, and Cranberry Tart
• Southern Fairytale's Yellow Squash and Zucchini Casserole
• Spicy Hot Pepper (from Auntie Charlene's CSA) and Fresh Corn Pudding
• AMomTwoBoys' Three Cheese and Prosciutto Cauliflower Gratin
• Suebob's Chestnut, fennel, and shallot confit
• Butternut squash puree

Then maybe we'll take another looooooong walk before:

• Pumpkin Pie (baked by my hippie church's Senior High Youth Group)
• Auntie Jill's Apple Pie
• Sour Cherry Pie
• Coffee & Port

What are you cooking?

Walnut, Blue Cheese, and Cranberry Tart [NaBloPoMo Day 19]

As promised, here is a recipe for a savory tart that can be served as a first course along with a simple green salad or with your Thanksgiving meal. I first came across the recipe about 10 years ago in an ad for Diamond walnuts.  As is to be expected, it is heavy on the walnuts.  I like nuts, but I found the tart a little too walnuty for my taste. This time when I make it, I will decrease the amount of nuts.  I am also going to adapt it slightly this year and use caramelized onions instead of regular sauteed onions. I'm going to use 4-6 onions depending on the size and caramelize/reduce those down to one cup.

If you don't like cranberries you can substitute firm pears or figs.

Also, the quality of the tart depends on the kind of blue cheese you use.  My family (especially Bunny and Wallie) are blue cheese freaks so I am going to increase the amount of cheese by about 2 ounces.  One of my issues last time around was that it wasn't cheesy enough. For best results, I highly recommend you use one of the following of my favorite blue cheeses:

• Italian Gorgonzola
• Italian Gorgonzola Dolce which has a creamier, sweeter flavor
• Pt. Reyes blue cheese (eat local California!)
• Australian Roaring 40's (one of my all time faves)
• Irish Cashel blue cheese
• an artisinal blue cheese from Wisconsin like Hook's (eat local Mid-west!)
  

So without further ado, here is the recipe for the tart. Ground walnuts can be found in the baking aisle if you don't want to grind them yourself.

And if tarts aren't your thing, just try not to drool while looking at the photo and recipe of this Blue Cheese Cheesecake. I might have to make both!