50mm f/1.4
The Spain Cookbook Giveaway ends tonight! So if you're interested, and you haven't entered yet, you've got until midnight tonight, eastern standard time, to leave a comment in this post!
Random winner will be chosen Saturday morning! Good luck!
Last night we had some college guitar students over for dinner after their juries, or final performance exams. I think there were 7 of them - not the 12 I had been told originally. Plus the other classical guitar teacher - that made 8 extra mouths to feed.
But it was more like 16 or 20. Doesn't anyone feed these people?
I had some of the food out on the table by the time they started arriving, and Bill, who had zipped home after the juries, was grilling up the flat iron steaks and corn and chicken.
I took a few pictures of the table before everyone arrived, but that was it. I'll upload them at some point before the weekend is out.
I love doing this sort of thing. Well, I don't enjoy cleaning the house. But I like cooking for a crowd. And this crowd was special.
For one thing, I didn't know any of them, except the other teacher. And these kids had just finished up the semester by performing in front of both guitar teachers and maybe one other teacher (I think), after working on their performance pieces and scales and finger exercises, and they were, I know, just so glad it was all over with.
Last Sunday, most of the guitar dept (students and teachers) gave a small concert at a church and rather than write a check for the performances, the tradition at this church is to pass the hat. Bill had thought that it would be nice to take that money and use it to buy the food and have this dinner for the students. So that's how it all came about. And we decided after last night that we'll make this a tradition.
They clearly weren't expecting the kind of spread we put out. I don't know what they did expect, but I don't think it included brie or crab and roasted corn and cheddar quesadillas. They were actually whispering "wow" when they saw the food. It was cute.
And they ATE. Seconds, thirds. Good thing there weren't 12 students last night because we wouldn't have had enough food.
Oh - and my kids - especially Julia - were a riot. Not at all phased with all these strangers coming into the house, eating from out table, playing darts and fooseball in the basement. Julia, in particular, rose to the occasion as 2nd hostess, sometimes showing the guys where the food was (though they already knew), and directing them to the type of cheese they should try. "You can cut some of THIS one!" She knows her foods. Earlier in the evening, while students were still arriving, she was hungry, and took a plate and said she just wanted "some of this" and helped herself to a small piece of prosciutto. That was it. A minute later she was back. "I'm still hungry," she told us. "But I only want this." And there went about a quarter of the remaining prosciutto. Girl knows what she likes.
It was a really nice night. The guys were polite, appreciative, and nice to (and extremely tolerant of) my kids, which scores the most points with me.
Anyway, that was last night. Today I will be attending the Mother's Day Tea at Alex's kindergarten, and I am SO looking forward to that. He's been wiggling with the job of keeping all the little planned events a secret - not easy for a kindergartener. He's let a few things slip, but that's okay. It's like watching the trailers for a much-anticipated film.
Anyway, that's where things are at the moment.
And here, since I haven't uploaded yesterday's food pictures, is another flower for your viewing pleasure.
Have a good day!
We've got a bunch of guitar students coming here tonight after their juries this afternoon. We're feeding them.
I'm going to be busy cooking and cleaning (and bossing my children around, using them as cheap labor, because, after all, isn't that why people have kids?) and getting things ready for this evening.
Here's the menu, in case you were wondering:
Grilled flat iron steaks, sliced thin.
Gai yang - grilled chicken (in this case, boneless, skinless thighs) with hot and sweet dipping sauce.
Shrimp and Avocado with Wasabi
Crabmeat and grilled corn quesadillas.
Pasta salad with fresh asparagus and roasted red peppers, in an olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing.
Assorted cheeses, prosciutto, other meats, olives, and grapes.
Sliced vegetables with a couple of bean-based dips that I'll whip up later on. I'm trying to use up the herbs we froze last fall. We still have a lot of sage left, so I'm sure that will be an ingredient.
And I made some little shortbread-like cookies in the shapes of guitars and musical notes in case anyone wants something sweet.
Ta-da! Well, I guess that's a bit premature. But anyway, that's what I'll be working on today.
I'll try to take pictures of at least the finished products as I put the food together.
In the meantime, above is a little picture of a tulip I took the other day. Since I don't have any food pictures yet.
Photo inspired by a bit of my morning reading - here. These came from our asparagus bed, which grows wider every year. I picked them yesterday, and I plan to pick a few more today and tomorrow, as they become tall enough. Favorite way to cook asparagus? Actually, there are two: either tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper and grilled on our charcoal grill...or sauteed in a pan with a little butter, little lemon juice, salt and pepper. Yum.
A few weeks ago my husband and some of his buddies brewed up a batch of beer (about 20 gallons) to be divided among the four of them.
One of the guys brought his daughter along - a little girl right around Julia's age. This is the second time she's been over, so she and Julia were already well acquainted.
Long before that first play date, the little girl's father and Bill and I had been sharing stories about our respective daughters and their rather strong little personalities. We all figured the two of them would either hit it off or become mortal enemies. Fortunately for all, they hit it off. More or less.
This most recent time, Julia and "Jakey" as Julia constantly refers to the other little girl (her name is not Jakey, but it will be for this story) played together a lot, but their friendship was occasionally interrupted, as are many little girl friendships, by period of time when, as Julia told me "I'm not gonna be her best friend any more." So there were moments of silence. Times when one little girl played outside and the other one played inside.
But for the most part, they played together...dragged out all of Julia's toys and dolls together...colored with chalk in the driveway (and Jakey colored on her dad's truck with chalk, too). So it was a pretty good day. Jakey's dad also brought along Jakey's brother, who is about Alex's age, and the two of them were instant buddies. So alike. It was fun to watch them.
But anyway. Over time, part of brew day's routine has come to include muffins from Whole Foods, that one of the guys picks up on his way here...Bill and I make lunch (which, this day, was spicy fish tacos - yum) and Jakey's dad brought a 12-pack assortment from Dunkin Donuts. Alex had a glazed chocolate donut - he ate part of it and I saved the rest for later. I think Julia had a glazed one...I forget who else had what.
Anyway, the guys were outside tracking the beer's progress and playing whiffle ball (an important part of brew day, apparently)...the two little boys were watching a movie about dinosaurs downstairs...I was zesting lemons and other citrus for the beer, or doing dishes, or making guacamole for lunch - I don't remember where I was...and the girls were in the dining room.
And they were relatively quiet, and getting along nicely, and I wasn't really paying attention.
Which is probably why this happened:
That's Julia (she chose her own clothes that day. She has her father's sense of style.)...and that's her co-conspirator, "Jakey." And those are what's left of the donuts.
They were tasting them. Perhaps discussing the subtle nuances of flavor...the quality of the chocolate...texture and crumb. Not really sure.
But they both were pretty amused by the whole thing...and their faces were pretty well smeared with chocolate, too.
And here's what was left:
I especially like how they licked away most of the choclate frosting.
Yeah. It's not that pretty. To be fair to myself, that red wrapping I used on the base is what throws off the color balance in the photo. But still. It's a rather ugly display.
It's chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, a 6" heart sitting on a 15" heart...decorated with rambling greenery and frightful flowers in "aster mauve" and light blue.
It was for my bosses's wife's birthday. I know, really. It's amazing I lasted another day.
I've got a few cakes like this - ones that I just cringed the whole time I was making them because I didn't really have any sort of theme or story to work with. I think I was just asked to do something chocolate. Maybe the heart shape too. I don't know.
Anyway. Let us close the door on this frightful chapter. Thank you.
Earlier today I put up a post to let readers know I was going to take a little vacation of sorts from posting - it's a busy week here and I needed to set something aside, and this seemed the logical choice.
And then...because I am a masochist...I was just checking my stats, and I saw a whole bunch of people coming over from Typepad's "Featured Blog" section. 
Oh cool! They're coming from here!
You know how some days you go along, kind of kicking the gravel as you walk along, not quite sure what you're even doing on that road?
Okay, a bit too philosophical. Sorry. I knew I'd been chosen as one of Typepad's Featured Blogs - I just had no idea when they'd post about it. And so naturally, since I chose today to say "I need a break" - that's when they put up that post.
(I must say, though, I am not sure where they got the idea I have videos on here. I don't. Sorry.)
But there's a lot of food, and food talk, and recipes, and pictures - interspersed with talk and photos from the rest of my life, too.
So, to those of you who have bounced over from that Typepad article - Welcome!
Sorry, I didn't make the Peanut Butter Torte - this week's Tuesdays With Dorie challenge. I have too much else on my plate right now and just couldn't squeeze it in.
But go check out all the other members (listed on the TWD site) and take a look at all of their mouth-watering renditions!
See you next time!
Yesterday morning my Dad's Rotary Club held their annual May Breakfast. We went down, and saw my father there, resplendant in his bright red apron, while we stood in line. My mother and my sister and her son arrived a little later.
While we were there, I snapped few pictures, and this one just cracks me up. So I figured I'd share. Alex clearly enjoyed his breakfast. Especially the blueberry pie.
Bill put a few large crickets in the lizard tank and Julia stood nearby - not too close - to watch the lizard stalk his prey.
He finally scurried down from his leafy perch and got one, then scrambled back up to gulp the thing down. It was a big cricket, so it took a little work.
Julia came rushing over (to where I was sitting, six feet away) to tell me all about it.
"The lizard caught a...a girl cricket!
"A girl cricket? How do you know it's a girl cricket?"
She thought a moment. "Because she's got...blinks."
"Blinks?"
"Yeah, just like I got blinks," she put her fingers near her eyes, "and you've got..." she peered closer, looking in through my glasses, "...wait a minute...you only got little blinks," she said, with pity, and went back to watch the lizard devour his meal.
Bill looked at me. "Blinks?"
"Eyelashes."
"Oh."
Jane Garmey: Great British Cooking: Wellkept Secret, A
Recipe mentioned: Crumpets. A bit of my history: this originally belonged to my mom's mother. It's interesting to me that she had cookbooks about British cooking, as she was born and raised in London, and wouldn't she just KNOW how to cook like a Brit? And of course that's a totally ridiculous assumption, as people aren't just born knowing how to cook their native cuisine. Anyway, I've also made the Yorkshire pudding from this book, and it's just as good as the recipe my grandmother and mother had/have used all these years. So that's something. (***)
Dorie Greenspan: Baking: From My Home to Yours
Recipe mentioned: As of today (4/10/08), only the Most Extraodinary Lemon Cream Tart. A bit of my history: Actually, more like the future - I've joined the group Tuesdays with Dorie - and so just about every Tuesday you can expect to see another recipe from this book. I've got a separate recipe category just for those posts, too. This is gonna be fun! (*****)
George Greenstein: Secrets of a Jewish Baker: Authentic Jewish Rye and Other Breads
Recipe Mentioned: Potato Rye Bread with Onion and Caraway. A bit of my history: I bought this book years ago, when I was in the midst of either a breadmaking frenzy or a Judaism frenzy - or probably both at the same time. Though I messed up the posted recipe when I made it recently, I've baked plenty of other things from this book which have turned out fine. Clearly the problem with the Rye bread was mine and mine alone! (*****)
Charmaine Solomon: The Complete Asian Cookbook
Recipes mentioned: Mutton Kari (Lamb Curry), Garam Masala. A bit of my history: I think we bought the hardcover version of this as a bargain book. It's a huge treasure trove of all dishes Asian. So much to explore...so little time. (*****)
Lynne Rossetto Kasper: The Italian Country Table: Home Cooking from Italy's Farmhouse Kitchens
Recipe mentioned: Apricot-Pistachio Pockets (Ravioli Dolci). A bit of my history: I have two of Ms. Kasper's books - this and her huge success - "The Splendid Table." I may have said this before, but I think somewhere in my soul there's some Italian in me. Something about the food resonates with me. I can't explain it - but there it is. (*****)
