Traditions like birthday cake and candles have been around for as long as any of us remember. We don’t think about it; it’s just always been so. Every party has it’s cake. The cake is the spotlight of the birthday celebration. What’s a birthday party without cake?
As I thought more about it, I started to wonder–why cake? Why not bread? Or steak? Or lobster? Why specifically is it cake? Made me curious, so I went on the hunt for the origins of the birthday cake.
Cake Goes Waaay Back
Celebrations of birth began in ancient Egypt, but in a different way than we do today. When a pharaoh was crowned, it was considered the “birth day” of them becoming a god. The coronation was celebrated with festive food and drink. A special cookie known as Khak was made with butter, honey, flour, milk and warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. The general population celebrated their own birthdays in honor of the sun god Ra, as it was one more trip around the sun. Khak cookies are still made today for birthday and holiday celebrations in Egyptian households.
In ancient Rome, cakes were made to celebrate birthdays and weddings. The cakes were round in shape and made with flour, yeast, nuts and sweetened with honey. The 50th birthday was the one mostly celebrated. (Women’s’ birthdays weren’t celebrated until the 12th century…but I bet they baked the cakes..)
In ancient Greece, moon shaped cakes were made to honor the goddess Artemis, Goddess of the Moon and the hunt. The cakes were brought to her temple and were lit with candles to simulate the moonlight. It is believed this is where the tradition of birthday candles started. Pagan religions also used candles, and believe the smoke warded off evil spirits. The smoke would carry your wishes up to the gods, hence the “make a wish”tradition when blowing out the candles.
In the 1400s, birthday cakes were becoming commonplace in Europe. Germany began making birthday cakes specifically to celebrate a child’s birthday. The parties were known as “Kinderfest” and the cakes were called “Geburtstagorten”. These cakes were exclusive to the wealthy, as sugar was not readily available and very expensive.With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, sugar was more affordable and cakes were seen at all levels of income. During the 1700s candles were added to the cakes. The candles totaled the child’s age, plus one year. This was to ensure a healthy and happy new year to come.
Birthday cakes are seen all around the world today. They are as varied as the individuals who are celebrating. Multiple layers, frostings, fruit and elaborate decorations make for a festive occasion. Pretty much everyone loves a birthday cake.
Except for me. Yup. I am not a fan of birthday cake. I am, however, a huge fan of pie. So every year, I make myself a Strawberry Rhubarb Birthday Pie. This is my favorite pie, and was the subject of one of my early blog posts which you can read here.
So enjoy your cake, pie or whatever you choose to celebrate you! Another trip around the sun is always a reason to celebrate. Happy Birthday!
Over that last two years, my family has changed our holiday gift giving to only stocking stuffers. It was my son’s suggestion.We are all in a position to buy ourselves whatever we feel we need. At first I was reluctant, but once I started shopping for stocking stuffers, I started to enjoy the holiday so much more. It’s fun to find little things that will be a surprise. As we all know, the past several years have been stressful and upsetting. Violence has erupted both here in the US and abroad. There is so much hate in the world. In my shopping this year, I have tried to focus on small businesses or companies that have a mission of peace. Here is a list of some of my favorite companies to buy from. Some are new, some are favorites that I return to annually.
1. Penzeys Spices–This is my most favorite company to buy spices and seasonings from. They have a huge variety and the quality is very high. they make delicious blends that work well with all types of meats and vegetables. They also have gift sampler boxes that are perfect for your a foodie friend. If you sign up for their emails, you’ll be alerted to the many specials they offer. Or you can give a gift card. I also appreciate the company’s values. Bill Penzey is very outspoken about the state of our country and our world. He truly wants to make the world a better place by building community. They treat their employees well, like giving them a paid holiday and closing the stores on Election Day so that employees can vote. Their high quality products and their value of community is something I gladly support. Make your purchases on the website or find a store by going to the link here.
2. Peace By Chocolate–I stumbled onto this company one day while scrolling through Prime video looking for something to watch. I’m a sucker for a food /cooking movie. (You can see my favorites in another blog post here.) This story is about a family who had a very prosperous chocolate factory in Damascus, Syria. When the factory was bombed and completely destroyed in 2012 in the Syrian Civil War, the family left Syria and became refugees in Lebanon. The son, Tareq Hadhad, gets admitted to Canada. Hoping to land in Toronto, he instead ends up in the town of Antigonish, Nova Scotia. His father and mother soon follow, and later his sister. The father begins making chocolate in the kitchen of their home. Word spreads, and they get a small space to expand the business. All the while, son Tareq is trying to finish his education as a medical doctor. Not going to spoil the whole story for you readers, but I’m watching without realizing until the end that this was a true story! With the support of the people of Antigonish, Peace By Chocolate became a full fledged artisanal chocolate business by 2016.The Hadhads believe that you must have peace to achieve anything, to have a business, to raise a family, to own a home. The company gives back both the community of their adopted country, and they run a refugee advocacy program to hire and train refugees.
With all of the talk against immigrants, here is one of many stories of an immigrant family that gives back to its community and country. You can buy their chocolate and read more about their story here.
3. Rumi Spice–Keith Alaniz was serving in the US Military in Afghanistan. He wanted to contribute to the economic stability of the country, but had no idea how. He then meat a farmer who had an overabundance of high quality saffron to sell but no buyer. Keith contacted a fellow veteran who arranged to buy the saffron and ship it to the United States and introduced it to Michelin star chefs. And Rumi Spice was born. Founded by Army veterans, their mission is to “promote peace and prosperity in Afghanistan by connecting people through food”. They source directly from farmers and help build economic stability. They also have empowered Afghan women, employing them in all aspects of the company, including COO. The women are engaged and able to contribute to their own prosperity as well as their community and nation.
Rumi Spice has expanded from saffron to include wild foraged spices and spice blends. Take a look at their products here.
4. NATIFS and Chef Sean Shermanaka “the Sioux Chef”–I have been a fan of Chef Sean Sherman since I first heard about him in 2016. He is a Native American from the Pine Ridge Reservation in south Dakota. His mission was to educate and preserve the native indigenous foods. He wrote a cookbook, The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen. His first restaurant, Owamni in Minneapolis has received critical acclaim. )My husband was able to score a reservation there and he said it was incredible. Very jealous…) You can read about him in my blog post from 2016 here.
The cookbook and restaurant aside, Sherman’s goal has always been preserve and empower the foods of the Native Americans. He started the non-profit NATIFS, the North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems. This organization is working to reclaim the tribal heritage of indigenous peoples through the country. The organization’s hub is in Minneapolis and it has created the Indigenous Food Lab. it is a professional kitchen and training center that is working to establish a new Indigenous Food System. The IFL offers classes on Native American farming and agriculture, wild foods, seed saving, cooking techniques, ethnobotany and more. The IFl is working with tribal communities to create and maintain their own food entity, which can become a market, catering business or a restaurant.
Imagine having your entire history, including your foods erased. This is what happened to the Native Americans through colonialism. Sean Sherman is passionate about bringing back the culture, language and history of the Native Americans through his endeavors. It would make a special stocking stuffer in your loved one’s name by making a donation to NATIFS here.
As the holidays approach, please think about spreading some peace in the world by spending your dollars where they can truly make a difference. Meals are the vehicles for coming together. Let’s spread the love beyond our own tables this year and send it to the world.
Happy Holidays to my readers. And Peace to you all.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday to cook for. I love that it is just about the meal. No gifts, no pressure to shop, just family and food. We like to stretch the meal out by having a number of courses. Our dinner can take up to three hours to eat. Appetizers, pasta course-my husband is Italian-main, salad and dessert. I mean, after all of that prep, why eat everything at once in thirty minutes?
But this year turned out different. Due to a number of scheduling conflicts, this Thanksgiving ended up being just my husband and myself. A first for us. And I was a bit down…
What to cook for just the two of us? We had already made a turkey breast a few weeks before, so that was out. Ham? Neither of us are ham fans. Roast a chicken? We can do that anytime. We do like to spread the meal out, but how to do that with just the two of us?
Inspiration finally hit. We love small plates, and have a favorite restaurant the does all kinds of Mediterranean dishes. What if we just do small plates and appetizers? We pulled out our recipes and made our very favorite things: Raw oysters Deviled eggs-two kinds- fresh dill, and curry deviled eggs Escargot Baked Scallops Jalapeno Poppers Berry Crumble for dessert
We had a leisurely morning, watching the parade as we assembled our various dishes. We love to cook together. We ate when we felt like it, one course at a time. In the middle, we took our two dogs for a long walk at the park. It was a day that was unstructured and relaxing. And it was personal. We made exactly what we liked, instead of having to appeal to the group.
Was it the day that I usually love to cook for? No. But it turned out to be lovely. The lesson here is that holidays are for everyone. And if your family can’t be with you, it is because they have their own traditions as well. And instead of being rigid or resentful, try doing something you have never tried before. The bottom line is, no matter how we spent the day, we have an awful lot to be thankful for. We are housed, clothed, have running water. We are healthy and well fed. We are safe. Many people in the world do not have these things.
So if your holiday veers from its normal course, embrace the change. Celebrate in a different way. Be grateful.
I was chatting with my son about our days living in the Catskills in New York, and what some of his classmates were up to. We had moved there shortly after 9/11, along with everyone else who thought it was a good idea to get away from living near New York City.
Where we moved to was inhabited by two main groups of people: the “locals” who had lived there for generations, and the “flatlanders”, people who owned vacation houses and came up on the weekends. And then there was a smaller population of people who were “transplants”, people who moved there but had no roots or family. That was us.
Long story short, the living was not easy for transplant families. The was a lot of resentment and animosity from the local population. And the weekend tribe did treat many of the residents with disdain and looked down on them. We just didn’t fit in.
Many of the “transplant” students in my son’s class couldn’t wait to get out of the Catskills. They had not grown up there, and many had traveled and had life experiences that were not available to them in this small rural town. They went off to college and moved to metropolitan areas. We relocated as well to the Philadelphia area in Pennsylvania.
So imagine my surprise when my son told me that one of his classmates, Alexis deBoschnek, had returned to the Catskills. Alexis was a highly motivated young lady, and completed high school in three years just so that she could leave the area. She had gone to college in New York, and had moved to Los Angeles and was in charge of the test kitchen for BuzzFeed. So what was someone who had lived in the two biggest cities, was creating content for BuzzFeed and had worked with Marcus Samuelsson doing back in the rural hills of the Catskills? I had to find out.
I caught up with Alexis last month to see what she was working on and what had brought her back. A little more background:
Alexis graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, but rapidly discovered that the fashion world was not as expected and the “glamour of the fashion industry was shattered”. Interested in cooking, she went on to receive a certificate in Culinary Techniques from the International Culinary Center. But she found that she didn’t want to be in the restaurant industry. Then she discovered Ruth Reichel, who had gone from working in restaurants to becoming the editor for Gourmet Magazine until it shuttered in 2009. Alexis found her niche in the world of food writing. She moved to LA and became one of the culinary influencers of Tasty, creating videos of recipes and techniques like the perfect pancake or roasted chicken. She also had her own video series, “Chef Out of Water” where she has to create a three course meal using only a coffee maker or an iron. You can watch the coffee maker video here. Alexis has great screen presence, and is delightfully funny in this series. Alexis says she is really “quite shy” but her videos say otherwise!
Enter the pandemic. With changes in her employment, Alexis decided to head back to the Catskills for six months. Her mother still lives there, and she felt it made sense to go ride out the pandemic with her. But still thinking of it as a temporary move. Reminder, this area is remote. The closest Target is ninety minutes away… not lying. So moving from LA is beyond a big adjustment. It is culture shock. She was concerned about moving back to a place where she had very little in common with the people who lived there, flashbacks of high school and her escape. Alexis was now doing freelance work and creating recipes. Her recipes have been featured in Food52, The Kitchn, BuzzFeed’s Tasty, Chowhound, and Tasting Table. Her mother has a beautiful home with amazing gardens, and Alexis found a great sense of place and balance, which allowed her to concentrate on her creative side. The area has changed, with a larger and more diverse population now living there. Since the world has finally embraced remote work, it is now possible to live in a place like the Catskills and have your career.
Six months became several years. It’s now 2022 and Alexis is still in the Catskills. She has found her creative groove in the mountains. When I asked her what was a source of inspiration, she said ” Most definitely, my Mom’s gardens.” Alexis’ mother is a landscape designer, so she is surrounded by beauty and bounty.
When I asked her about her perspective on food, she said” It is so important to use all of the ingredients so that there is no waste.” In her experiences in the food industry, she was appalled at the amount of food waste. This became her inspiration to write her first cookbook, “To the Last Bite“. Growing up with her Mom’s garden, Alexis learned how to make every ingredient last. The cookbook focuses on using the entire ingredients to cut down on food waste, save money and have an impact on climate change. Go to her website to learn more about Alexis and her life in the Catskills and to order her cook book.
I was delighted to hear Alexis’ story, and how her path has lead her full circle to a place she never expected to live in ever again.
You just don’t know where life will take you, so Never Say Never.
I’m going to be adding posts here and there about names of foods and their origins. Today is the first- Coleslaw.
Since it is barbeque and picnic season, I love to make this staple side dish. Crunchy, cool with enough sweet and savory flavors to balance out any main dish. We all have had it for years, whether purchased at a deli or made from scratch. As I was making it for one of the summer dinners, it occurred to me:
Why is it called that?
So I did some quick poking around and it turns out that the name comes from the Dutch word “koolsla” meaning “cabbage salad”. When the Dutch settled in New Amsterdam in the late 17th-early 18th century, they brought their recipe for a chilled cabbage salad with a mayonnaise and vinegar based dressing with them. Over time, “kool” became anglicized to “cole”.
Coleslaw has turned into a side staple in the summer. We all have our own versions, whether cabbage, broccoli or the more exotic kimchi slaw. If you are looking to mix it up, try this link for a bunch of variations:
On to the dressing. For years, I would buy the Kraft bottled coleslaw dressing. It was what my Mom did, and I went along with that. I would open the bottle, use some, and then the remainder would sit in the fridge….for a while. While it sat, it got thick, sticky, unusable and took up space in the fridge. I hate food waste, so I looked for a coleslaw dressing recipe.
Turns out, the dressing is super simple to make. It takes like 5 minutes, and it is fresh and delicious. No more bottles! See the link for the recipe I use from Allrecipes.com. I add 1/4 teaspoon of celery seed, just rounds out the flavor.
After 2 plus years of being extremely careful, I finally caught COVID. I am now a member of the BA 4-5 Variant Club.
So while I was in quarantine, and I couldn’t leave the house, I started reminiscing about traveling. Of course you crave the one thing you can’t do. This story does relate to food, so hang in there…
I went through my photo album of a trip to France that I took with my son and my sister. We had rented a house in the south of France in the Languedoc region, in the beautiful town of Beziers. We would take day trips to local sites every other day, and explore closer to the house on off days. We saw castles, old medieval villages where the Crusades stopped to rest, ( Always need a break form robbing, raping and pillaging…) The Pont du Gard aqueduct. The Languedoc is west of Provence. Not as much cachet, but just a beautiful and less expensive.
Before we left for the trip I told my son that we WOULD NOT be eating any American fast food. None. He was going to have to try what was in France, as food is one of the reasons to travel. Much to his credit, he was completely on board.
On the days that we would stay close to home, someone in the house-there were ten of use- would cook dinner for the entire group. This meant a trip to the Beziers market, which was brimming with all fresh and local produce, meats, cheeses, seafood. Just an incredible bounty.
Les Halles de Beziers
Story One
It was my sister’s turn to prepare the evening meal. I was going to stay at the house by the pool, so my son went with his aunt to the market. When they returned, my son was completely despondent and crying. I mean really, really upset. “What is the matter? Why are you crying?” My son replied in absolute horror- “They eat dogs here!”
WHAT??? I assured him that they DO NOT eat dogs in France, but he insisted that he saw a whole dog butchered and for sale at the butcher shop. He was inconsolable even with my assurances. Well, we needed to get the bottom of this. I had no idea what he saw, but the next day we went back to the market. We walked up to the butcher shop and he pointed-“There! There is the dog!”
Sure looks like a dog…
But not a dog. The butcher was selling whole rabbit. He had never seen a rabbit before, so yeah, I can see where he thought it was a dog. Once I explained that it was a rabbit, he was immediately relieved. He was able to resume eating like a native. In fact, he had rabbit pate’ the next day. Crisis averted.
Story Two
It was my turn to make the evening meal so I headed off to the market. I was in my glory! There is a traditional dish made with mussels and served over string French fries known as Moules et Frites. It is like a street food, with the mussels cooked in wine, cream and shallots and served over the fries. The dish originated in Belgium, but is also popular in France.
Moules et Frites
I spoke high school French, so I could muddle my way through ordering what I needed. And I had my handy dandy Francais/English dictionary on hand. I get the ingredients I needed for salad, and the potatoes, and head over to the fish monger to get my mussels. I go to place the order and am stopped dead in my tracks. No language issues, but I was roadblocked by…
The Metric System.
Yes. Mussels were sold by the kilo. A kilo??? Is that larger than a pound, smaller than a pound? I have absolutely no frame of reference for the quantity I needed. Plus, I suffer from math anxiety-(it’s a real thing, go Google it) so I am at a complete loss. All of the shopping euphoria I had experienced was gone in a flash, replaced with paralysis. English is not widely spoken in this region, so I couldn’t just ask. I dug through my dictionary hoping that they had the foresight to add a metric/pounds conversion chart, but nope. PS- dictionary publishers, that would be a GREAT addition to your book…
What to do? I finally arrived at the solution. I managed to piece together in my limited French that I needed enough mussels for ten people. Fingers crossed that the fish monger wouldn’t oversell to me, but at that point, I honestly didn’t care. I got my mussels and headed back to the house.
To the fish monger’s credit, he sold me exactly the amount I needed. Dinner was delicious, paired with the incredible wine from the region. Another great day in France.
This trip was a great adventure for my son and me. I believe it is so important to travel, to see the world and experience it though other’s eyes. It’s especially vital for children. My son’s world opened up. I truly believe that travel makes you open to different ideas, and creates curiosity. Knowledge in our world creates empathy and understanding, something that is sorely lacking today.
So travel when you can again. Go someplace you have never been. Try foods that you have never eaten. Make new friends.
Just remember to bring a metric conversion calculator.
Or longer. As with the rest of the world the pandemic threw me for a loop. And I haven’t made a post to this blog in over a year. Finding the motivation has been difficult, and 2021 into 2022 has had a streak of losses and challenges.
First set of challenges:
I’m an animal person. Our family had 2 dogs, 2 cats and my beloved horse. From August 2021 to March 2022, I lost 3 of them. I know pets are not people, and I am beyond fortunate that I didn’t lose any family or friends to COVID. But this hit me hard. My sweet Welsh Corgi, Abby ended up with an incurable genetic disease. My beautiful cat, Bandit ended up with lymphoma. And my partner of 18 years, my horse Hugs, at 28 years old, was failing and we lost her in March. I believe in being a good steward to my animals and made the hard decision to painlessly end their suffering and was with each of them as they passed. But the loss has been profound.
BanditAbbyHugs
Challenge # 2-The Job:
Due to the pandemic, I joined the many who worked remotely. And also like many, discovered that my job was sucking the life out of me. Lots of changes within the company compelled me to make the big decision to join the Great Resignation. I retired, earlier than planned, but there was no moving forward in my current role. The stress was no longer worth the paycheck.
So here I am trying to redefine myself.
The one thing I did love was writing my blog, so it is time to get back to it. My posts may not be as long as my previous ones, maybe only a snippet here and there, but it is my way of finding connection in a disconnected world.
The focus of my blog is the rituals of what we eat and why. But we can “Bring Something to the Table” in so many ways.
Here is a quick ritual of a meal that I love–grilled sardines.
When I was in Portugal I dined on these delightful fish. We all think of sardines as little fish packed into a can. Those are fry-basically baby sardines. Mature sardines are about 6 inches long. They are only harvested in the spring and summer, when the sardines are plump after feeding. It is a simple recipe; simply clean whole sardines, removing innards and scales but leaving the heads and tails on. Rub them with kosher salt inside and out and let them sit for several hours. After they have sat salted, rinse them under water and pat dry. Brush them with olive oil and grill on an oiled grill, 2 to 3 minutes each side. I cut up fresh thyme and oregano, bruise the herbs in a mortar and pestle and add to the olive oil. Serve with a vegetable of your choice and crusty bread. Allow 2 to 3 sardines per person. You will be able to pull the entire set of bones out starting from the tail. The flesh is tender and smoky-sweet.
Portuguese Grilled Sardines with Green Beans
It’s good to be back to writing. I hope you will continue to follow me as I venture forward into what we eat and why.
“We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” _Joseph Campbell
Being stuck at home has forced me to change pretty much ALL of my routines. We are all going through a huge upheaval in our favorite rituals. No date nights at the movies, no Happy Hour with friends, no birthday parties at your favorite restaurants. And being creatures of habit, we do love our routines. And I know that many of us have gotten creative about substituting an old ritual for a new one.
My husband and I do love to cook, but even so, we had fallen into a rut of making some of the same things over and over again. Partly because we have pandemic fatigue, and partly because we don’t want to think any more. We are both exhausted after a day on Zoom.
But the same old, same old is boring. We have scads of cookbooks and subscribe to cooking magazines. We watch cooking shows. We have the resources, and clearly, now we have the time. So we made a pledge to try one new recipe each week that we had never made before. Enter, New Ritual.
On the weekend, we take time to go through our cookbooks or magazines and select something to try. It can be something that we have had but never made, or something we have never eaten. This forces us to dig into what interests us, what we are curious about. We have some successes, and some questionable results. Here’s what we have been up to:
Jamaican Oxtail Stew
When I worked in Philly, there was this Jamaican food truck that made the Best Oxtail Stew. Tender braised meat, so flavorful. I would get it for lunch whenever they had it. So I thought we would give it a go. First, I had to find oxtail, which is not your everyday cut of meat. Originally it was from an ox, it is now cow tail. And before you wrinkle your nose, it is just another cut of meat. It is one of those castaway bits that cultures have adopted and used. It is similar to the African one pot dishes that developed out of the slave culture in the Caribbean. We located oxtail at a great local butcher shop. No longer inexpensive, it was close to $10 a pound!
I used a recipe that was for my pressure cooker, but if you don’t have one, you can do it in a slow cooker. The oxtails are very gelatinous, and need to cook for a while to get to that tender consistency. The flavors are a combination of sweet and savory, with garlic, onions, allspice and either habanero or Scotch bonnet pepper and some butter beans. The results:
Delicious. It was easy to make in the Insta Pot, and only took 45 minutes. Unfortunately, as much as I loved it, the cost of oxtail has relegated this recipe for special occasions, but well worth it! Get the recipe here.
Jamaican Oxtail Stew
Rabbit Season
While we were shopping for the oxtail, I also found rabbit at the butcher shop. I’ve never had rabbit, so we added that into the shopping cart. Funny rabbit story-we were in France in the town of Bezier, and they have a wonderful market there. A group of us had rented a house and we took turns cooking. My son, who was about 12 years old, went to the market with my sister. He came back totally distraught. “Mom, they eat dog here!” He was inconsolable. I assured him that dog is not eaten in France, but he was unconvinced. We went to the market the next day, and I had him show me the alleged dog. It was a whole rabbit. He saw the skinned whole rabbit with no ears and he thought it was a dog. Crisis averted.
In honor of the French Rabbit episode, I decide to make a Rabbit Pot de Provence with Potato Fondant. The recipe has the typical southern French flavors; tomato, fennel, olives, a little orange zest and is a simple braise in a Dutch oven. I had to cut up the rabbit into pieces, but it is very similar to cutting up a whole chicken, so no big deal. The potatoes are also a French recipe, with them being first browned and then baked in chicken stock. You can do a rustic cut or a more fancy cut on the potatoes. We went rustic, since the rabbit was a rustic stew.
The results:-Rabbit- very tasty! The meat was tender, and the flavor is mild like chicken but with just enough of a slight gamey flavor and texture. This recipe combines such lovely flavors with the fennel and the tomato blending beautifully. I do want to find locally sourced rabbit. What I didn’t notice was that the rabbit that I bought was sourced in China. I’ll reach out and find a local source. The carbon footprint alone makes me feel guilty for not reading the label better. You can find the recipe here.
The Potato Fondant-not as successful as I had hoped. The recipe calls for 4 waxy large potatoes, like russets. You shape the potatoes and cut them in half, then brown them in butter on both sides. Then into the oven for 30 minutes. Even after 45 minutes, the potatoes weren’t cooked through. I think my potatoes were too large, so I suggest going for a medium size potato. I’ll give it a go again, they flavors were delightful. You can find the recipe here.
Rabbit-a home run . Potato Fondant, not so much…
Duck Season
Since the holidays this year were a bust, socially, I decide to try something for New Year’s Eve dinner. I have always wanted to cook duck breast, so here we go. On the search for duck breast for 2 people, I discovered that it was absurdly expensive for such a small amount of meat. I went to another store, and they were out of duck breast, but hey! Whole duck and it was on sale! The breast was going to cost $20 and I got the whole duck for $28. Cue foreboding music…..
I found a whole roast duck recipe that involved salting the duck for 6 hours prior to roasting. And then you had to submerge the legs into a Dutch oven and simmer the tough parts, keeping the more tender breast out of the water. Then, you moved the whole bird to a V-rack and finished it in the oven. Okay, kind of involved, but it’s not like I’m doing anything else. So I take the duck out of the package. And I notice that it smells kind of..gamey? I’m in unknown territory, and I know how fatty they are, so I chalked it up to “if it smells like a duck, then it’s a duck.” More foreboding music. So I salt and I simmer and I roast and I glaze. Really committed to the process! And it looks AMAZING!
Looks fantastic, right?
But it still smells. Only worse. I mean, what a weird, unappetizing stinky odor. But I refuse to give up. So I make the wild rice and make some gorgeous roasted golden beets. We plate it up and it really looks like something you would order out.
So impressed with myself!
So we sit down and dig in. And it still stinks. But now the whole house stinks. The odd thing is that it tasted fine. So, I don’t know if the reason it was on sale was that I should have cooked it that day, or if that is how duck smells. So much air freshener…
The result? Calling it a technical epic fail. But I have another whole duck in the freezer, so I am going to try again. Consider it research… You can find the recipe here.
Here, Pig Pig!
Not what you think, this is a different kind of pig-tale. I used to live in Denver and I would go to a little place in the 5 Points neighborhood called Casa de Manuel. The specialty there was a wet beef burrito with cheese, smothered in green chili. They are so good, that when I visited there one time, I order 10 and froze them and flew them home. But this story isn’t about the burrito..
Next to the restaurant was a Mexican bakery and they sold a cookie that was like gingerbread and always in the shape of a pig. After consuming said burrito, I would always buy a bag of Ginger Piggies. The spiced cookie settled the tummy after burrito consumption.
I left the Denver area and moved back to the east coast, and really didn’t think much about Ginger Piggies. Years go by, and after living in a remote part of New York for a number of years, we rejoined civilization and moved to near Philadelphia. In our area, we have a number of small central American food shops. One makes totally kick ass tamales on Sunday mornings. Get there early, they will sell out. This brought back my fond memory of the Ginger Piggies. I looked in several stores and asked, but none of them made them. Time to make them myself.
I went recipe hunting and found a simple pan dulce recipe for Marranitos, the official name. It is a soft cookie, fragrant with spices and molasses. They are wonderful after a meal, or with coffee or tea. I did purchase the pig cookie cutter, got to be authentic! You can find the recipe here.
Plate full of Ginger Piggies, plus some honey bees with the leftover dough
Fear not the Unknown!
I’ve had some successes and some failures in to this foray into the unknown. The successes were fun, and I loved going to where I had not gone before. The failures? Eh, no big deal. Because there is NO PROGRESS WITHOUT FAILURE. Read that again. No failure, no progress. You just have to give it a go. And cooking is a great way to fail. Yup. Because it will be obvious. Cooking will show the failures in taste, texture, doneness and smell…like stinky duck.
So while you have some time on your hands with the pandemic keeping us home, give it a go. Try something. Fail at it. And learn. And try again. Don’t worry about what others think, and please don’t judge yourself. There is a world of difference when you DON’T know what you DON’T know, to when you DO know what you DON’T know. And once we can get back into the world, you can share what you learned. So give it a go!
It’s 2021 and I’m not going to belabor the point that 2020 was an epically horrible year. We all know it. We are all tired of talking about it. And we all want life to get back to whatever normal will be. During this lockdown, all of our norms have and will continue to be challenged and challenging. Since my blog is about ritual, I’m highlighting what I kept doing and what I did differently.
Experimenting Out of Complete Boredom
I think most people tried recipes or skills that they hadn’t done before. Everyone was baking bread. I have made bread in the past, so I got on the bread wagon, too. My husband loves semolina bread, so that was my first attempt. And it came out great!
Semolina bread-first attempt, not too shabby!
My second bread attempt was a rye bread. And it was an epic fail. Turns out, rye flour is waaay different from regular bread flour. The gluten is stubborn and you have to knead it for what felt like a year until the flour stops being sticky. I don’t have a mixer, so no bread hook. Now seeing where that would have been handy.. It ws a dark rye and the recipe called for molasses and orange zest. Sounded questionable but, okay, let’s give it a go.
Horrible. The loaves came out like flat round disks and the molasses and orange did not translate well into a rye bread. So off it went to the chickens. Who didn’t eat it either.
The takeaway :
-kneading dough is very therapeutic. Working with your hands and watching something change form , texture and shape is very gratifying.
-breadmaking does not always go according to plan. Hence the rye bread. But that shouldn’t stop you from trying new things.
Out with the Old
My husband and I have been married for 15+ years. But we still had dishware and place settings from our previous marriages. Everything was now chipped, mismatched and worn out. We love to entertain-when we could actually entertain- and so we took the plunge and ordered all new dishes and flatware. We are into the mid-century modern look for our home so we went with Fiestaware. A mix of colors, from orange, turquoise, yellow and chartreuse.
So…many…colors!
The takeaway :
-leaving the old behind can be very cleansing. While there was nothing wrong with any of it, none of it worked together. And it was fun for us to buy something together.
-just because something is still good or serviceable, doesn’t mean it’s good or serviceable for you. We packed up all of our old stuff and drove it to a vendor who will sift through it and buy what he wants. The remainder will get donated. Things can still be of service, but to someone else. It’s okay to move on.
Routine Creates Structure-a Double Edged Sword?
2020 blew our routines out of the water. We couldn’t go to our favorite restaurants. We couldn’t get ingredients because of panic buying. We couldn’t invite people over. I now worked from home, so no lunches in Center City Philadelphia. Forget holiday celebrations. I initially felt like I was floating in the sea with no sails or oars. Humans are creatures of habit, and our routines give us comfort. I mean, my blog is all about ritual and tradition, so this was a huge upset. Or was it?
Routines can become ruts. And ruts can get very deep, which makes them hard to get out of. And they are sometimes so ingrained in us that we don’t even know we have been locked in to a routine until the floor is swept out from under us.
So what to do? Many people found new ways of keeping engaged-hello, Zoom Happy Hour! We used to go to a restaurant every week with friends to play trivia. Instead, we did Zoom trivia. Still fun, and we got to see our friends, even if it is on a screen.
This was also the time to support local restaurants. So many people have been helping our restaurants stay open. We order take out weekly from our favs to help keep them open.
We also vowed to try a new recipe every week. We have a ridiculous amount of cookbooks that were seriously under utilized. Our new ritual is we go through the cookbooks and select our menu for the week. We then create the shopping list. Date Night is now Friday night at the grocery store (less crowded than on the weekends).
But the best change up in routine came from my son. He made the request that we don’t buy Christmas presents for each other. He wanted to just do stockings and then spend time together. Initially, I wasn’t enthused about the idea. But think about it. We give each other lists of what we want, then we get those things, then we open gifts pretty much knowing what they are. So I got on board.
And you know what? This was so much fun! Instead of working off of a premeditated shopping list, I had to go find things that he and his fiancée would enjoy. Shopping became an adventure, and it forced us to really think about who they were and what they would find delight in. Christmas shopping is very stressful for me, and I do not find pleasure in it. This was like a treasure hunt, and each and every small gift had a thought behind it. Really, best Christmas in a long time. So thanks to my son, this will be our new Christmas ritual. We do, however, need to invest in large capacity stockings…
The takeaway :
-take a look at your routines. Are they adding to your life or are they stopping you from being creative?
-nothing is permanent. Be open to creating new experiences.
-keep your routines, but add a new twist. Like our new holiday tradition, you can find delight in a variation on a theme.
There is No “Normal” Anymore
It’s now 2021. And things are still going to be hard for a while. Hope is on the horizon, and I am feeling optimistic for the first time in a long while. I know people want to get back to “normal” but that has all changed. And while there is so much to be sad about, we also can celebrate what we have discovered about and within ourselves.
The takeaway :
-working from home has made people realize that our workplaces and ourselves have been giving lip service to the term “work/life balance”. Companies were forced to realize that a majority of the workforce can work from home and still be productive. And employees have now really seen what they were giving up, with long commutes and daily grinds into offices. I foresee this way of working continuing in some form, and people will be more productive and happier. I know for me I can now get a walk in first thing in the morning. And I can throw a load of wash in during the day between Zoom meetings.
-the pandemic has -hopefully- shone a light on our humanity. There has been so much mobilization to help with food insecurity. Groups have donated meals to our frontline healthcare workers. Food bank usage is at an all time high-so donate when you can.
-Enjoy the small things. A walk in nature, time with your children, hanging out with your pets. Lots of little things add up to a big pile of good things.
Onward
To my readers and followers, I wish you all good health and new opportunities. I hope you find solace and joy, and I that you have found some delight amidst the chaos.
This year has taken me out. Actually, the past 3.5 years have, but this one takes the prize. COVID-19 has kept me working from home since March, and we aren’t going back until April of 2021. And I’m one of the lucky ones, still employed as is my husband. Two weddings rescheduled and a European trip moved to next year. Again, first world problems. But I am exhausted emotionally by the discord and the derisiveness our nation has spread. The election with all of its uncertainty has me losing sleep. As November approaches, my apprehension grows, as I am certain that there will be violence occurring, especially if Trump loses-which hopefully he does.
The latest blow-the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsberg. And there will be a rush by McConnell to fill that seat, which will have repercussions for years to come. All that has been accomplished for the rights of women, immigrants, people of color, can be swallowed up by an ultra conservative Supreme Court. And that scares the daylights out of me.
So how to get through this?
I have baked bread, joined Quarantine Kitchen on Facebook, tried new recipes. I watch cooking shows, because I can’t bear to watch the news or network shows because of all of the nasty political ads. I feel like I am numbing myself with distractions, because the reality is too hard to bear.
But as I sit here and write this, I look at a piece of art by my desk. It’s a lovely small piece with a Buddha head. And it says:
“What we think we become.”
Now, I bought that piece because I loved the tranquil image and the message. But you know how when something is around every day, you just don’t see it anymore? I had stopped seeing it. And by not looking, I lost my way. I had stopped writing my blog, which I do love to do. And I was getting buried in my own downward spiral of fear and apprehension. I became what I thought.
So how to get out? The only way out is through.
I signed up with a weight loss program, because, yes I had gained the COVID 19 pounds, and while the app can be a little perky sometimes, the messaging from this plan is one of self acceptance and positivism. I dove in and I am following the methodology and the lessons, and it is working. So if I can apply those lessons in weight loss, I can apply them in my new normal.
I’m going to allow myself to be sad today over the death of Justice Bader Ginsberg. And then I am going to think of what I want to be to the world, and become that person. I will allow myself slips and falls, but I will get up and be a part of the change in the world that I want to be. I’ll find time for writing this blog, because it make me happy. I don’t have the access to the people or places that I did before COVID, but I will find a workaround.
Bring Something to the Table 