Moving Time!

I like moving. I’ve done it countless times in my adult time. I like the excitement of the unexpected. Even if you’re just moving across town there is always something that’s different, a bit uncomfortable, that you have to get used to. But it’s the journey of getting comfortable in your new surroundings that make me get all giddy on moving day.

And today’s an auspicious day — we’ve moved everything … to the all new FrantasticFood brand. That includes Twitter and the Justin.tv broadcast. Click on the links, head over and be sure to follow and/or favorite me at the FrantasticFood sites

Thank you!

Barter — the New Way to Pay

Today was an exciting day. No, nothing related to work — to the place that I go to toil in order to win a paycheck. It was exciting for other reasons, although one of which is also financially driven. Here’s the story. I have a friend from work who has far more energy than I. She has more than 1 job. More than 2, actually. One of her many talents is that she is a massage therapist. Hmmm… is that really the correct term? I think so, but I also think she’s a physical therapist. But anyway, massage is what we’re going to talk about tonight.

One day she brought up the idea of “Food for Massage.” I wasn’t following. I thought she was talking about food for her clients and then I caught on — she was talking about me supplying her with food for her and her husband and in return, I would get a free paid for with food, massage. It was an offer I could not refuse. So today I headed into the kitchen as soon as I woke up and made a scrumptious dinner of the following:

• Chicken Milanesa Napolitana (Chicken Parmesan)
• Ensalada Completa (A big, fat salad including hearts of palm, fennel, and the usual suspects)
• Pasta with Pesto
• Peach Crisp

What could be bad, right? I packed up the food, headed to the studio, had a great massage and they hopefully, had a great dinner.

Now I just need to find more barter deals. I could use a bathroom renovation. Any contractors out there? How about someone to clean house for me 2 times a month?

Oh no! Wait! I need help with my new website — FRANtasticfood.com! Anyone out there want to trade food for a logo and website design?

Making croutons is easy. Cube bread (day old or more — but not stale — is just fine). Drizzle olive oil, sprinkle salt and pepper and if you like, minced garlic or garlic powder, mix it all around and toast in the oven until crisp.

Making a peach crisp is a breeze. Sometimes I use berries, other time nectarines, and when I’m feeling really frisky I’ll combine all three — peaches, nectarines and berries. Ooooh, that’s so good!

I mixed the fruit with a couple of tablespoons of sugar and about 2 tablespoons of mango margarita mix. Ok, so I happen to have a stash in my pantry because I like to use it with sparkling water as a juice drink, but if you don’t have margarita mix, orange juice will work just fine. And if your peaches are really juicy, you don’t need any additional liquid at all. The last addition is a thickener. I used white flour today, but tapioca or rice flour will work as well. You just don’t want to add too much or you will have a sticky, gluey mess. I like to taste my creations, and it was killing me not to be able to see how this little crisp came out today, but it looked good from what I saw when I pulled it out of the oven — bubbles around the edge and all.

The crisp requires butter — kind of a lot of butter, flour and sugar. I use brown sugar. Measurements? I don’t know! I do it by eye. I’m going to say 4 tablespoons butter, 1/3 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup flour. You can use a pastry cutter, your fingers or if you’re not too heavy-handed, a food processor. I used my fingers today. What you want is, well, a crumbly mixture. If you over work it you’re on your way to making a regular pastry dough and it would be a pretty heavy lump of crust. Not a pie crust that would win any medals at the county fair. As a matter of fact, you might be escorted out of the fair grounds with bowed head — in shame.

If things don’t seem to be going well, add more butter or flour and sugar as necessary. It’s ok to taste it as you go to make sure you have enough (not too much) sugar.

Sprinkle the crumble on liberally and cook in a 375º oven until brown and bubbling.

Next up — marinara sauce. Make a soffritto. A soffritto in this case is carrots, onion and celery seed. Celery seed?? Right. I am a master at making do with what I have in the kitchen and I had no celery, so I turned to the underused jar of celery seed. I keep it in the pantry for a couple of things; pickled shrimp and cole slaw. I don’t make these things often, so it always seems to be there waiting for me and it came in very handy today. It’s strong, so I added just a couple of pinches to give the soffritto the hint of celery.

Cook the soffritto until it’s very tender. It will take time. Don’t use a high heat. I started on medium high and quickly reduced to low so that the vegetables did not brown. I added minced garlic at the end for flavor. I am careful because when garlic gets too dark it becomes bitter and that would change the whole flavor of the sauce.

There, that’s how you want it.

Anyone that taught the classes I took in Italy told us that fresh tomatoes just aren’t necessary when making a sauce. San Marzano tomatoes are a must though. So, since my first trip to Tuscany in 1998, I’ve been using canned tomatoes and the discount I get at the store makes these Solania tomatoes crazy affordable.

I buy whole tomatoes and then get in there with my hands to break them up. I could put them in the food processor, but I love the texture of “mashed tomatoes.” Well really, “squished tomatoes.” This is NOT an attractive shot. My hand reminds me of an elephant! But I wanted you to see that I truly mean that I get in there and squish away.

I added salt, pepper, oregano and parsley. That is a simple marinara which works well for this dish.

This is not absolutely necessary, but pounding the chicken breasts helps to cook them quickly enough so that when the milanesa is in the oven, the cheese doesn’t burn because it’s taking to long. Oh! And please. If you have one of those mallets with spikes in it, get rid of it — NOW! Please! Alright, if you’re going to make chicken fried steak you can use it. I don’t know if I’ve ever had it, but I know it looks like someone has mauled it with spikes, so I guess that’s what you have to do. If you are a chicken fried steak person, you can have the spiky mallet, but keep it in the back of the drawer, ok??

Home made bread crumbs from a French baguette. I try to keep a bag of these in the freezer. It’s time to make more — I used the last bag today.

Then it’s time to get to the breading process. I dredge in flour, dip in lightly beaten egg and then in the bread crumbs.

The flour helps the egg stick to the chicken which is the “glue” that keeps the bread crumbs from falling off. Ok, yeah, that was obvious.

Next, the chicken goes into a hot pan with olive oil and butter. No one said this was going to be low calorie, ok?!

I like to put an “herby surprise” on top of the chicken, like these basil leaves. I spoon sauce on the bottom of the pan first so that the chicken is not lonely.

A generous portion of sauce goes on top of the breasts

I used a mixture of fresh mozzarella and a mixture of 4 Italian cheeses from the dairy section of the market.

Cook at 375º until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbling around the edges.

The salad? You don’t need any help here. It’s whatever you like. I was in the mood for just about everything. The only thing missing was avocado. Oh, and cheese. And maybe a few strawberries. I used field greens I picked up at the farmer’s market yesterday mixed with romaine hearts. I added sliced hearts of palm, slices of baby bell peppers (yellow and red), thinly sliced radishes, finely sliced fennel and onion, grape tomatoes and chick peas.

And finally, I put together a bowl of pasta with pesto. The basil I picked up at the market was organic, just like the field greens and it all smelled so good it I couldn’t resist. The ingredients are few:

• Fresh Basil
• Parmesano Reggiano
• Garlic
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Ricotta Cheese
• Toasted Pine Nuts

Get out that food processor and go to town! It takes a fair amount of olive oil. I’d say I easily used 3/4 of a cup. I used just one dollop of ricotta cheese. It helps tame the garlic and basil. And the two little chunks of parmesan you see are no longer. I used both and a bit of the larger chunk as well.

And that’s it, my friends. A wonderful meal. It’s not difficult to make and the results are so worth it.

Now, I need to go see if there’s someone around here that wants to get in on this bartering concept. Chocolate dipped macaroons for a logo anyone?

Farmer’s Market Find

I’ve been so lucky to have a farmer’s market right outside my doorstep this summer. It’s not only convenient, but it allows me to get away with not having to get in the car to drive somewhere for great produce. I picked up 3 very large tomatoes last week and turned one of them into a great salsa fresca. It was another one of my infamous last minute meals and I didn’t know what I was going to do with the salsa, but since I’d just come home from the supermarket and had a deliciously crunchy baguette under my arm, I decided the perfect answer was to grill the halves of bread and turn them over, spoon a few heaping spoonfuls of salsa on top and return to the grill for a little warmth. WOW! Was that ever DEElicious!

The chicken turned out great as well. It’s simple really:

• 1 chicken breast, pounded to approx. 1/2 inch thickness
• 2 tablespoons drained capers
• flour to dredge chicken breast in
• juice of one very large lemon
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup chicken stock (home made if possible, if not, low sodium)
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 2 tablespoons Butter
• 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Dredge the chicken in the flour and dust off so that there is just a thin coating. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. When hot, cook the chicken, turning once for about 3 minutes on both sides, or until done. Check with a thermometer if you are unsure because you really don’t want to overcook the chicken. It will have to sit while you finish the pan sauce. Once the chicken is done, or just about done, remove to a plate and tent with aluminum foil to keep warm and continue to the cooking. Turn the stove off or remove the skillet and deglaze the pan by pouring in the wine. Place back on the heat and reduce the wine by 1/3. Add the lemon juice and chicken stock and cook until further reduced by another 1/3. Add the chicken back to the pan with any juices that have accumulated on the plate and add the capers and parsley to the pan. Cook until just heated; about 2 minutes and serve.

I made a simple pasta with pancetta and cream. Cook the pasta until al dente. In the meantime, put diced pancetta in a pan over medium high heat until just cooked through. When the pasta is done drain and return to the pan. Add 1/3 cup of heavy cream, 1 tablespoon butter and the pancetta. Add salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle 1/4 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese on top and that’s it!

I made a simple salsa fresca with the diced tomato, diced onion, minced garlic, a small diced jalapeño pepper, olive oil and lemon juice. I have a very dense balsamic in the kitchen, so I added a teaspoon for a little sweetness. Salt and pepper and you’re done. Let it sit for at least 20 minutes to let the tastes combine. Use a slotted spoon to scoop onto the bread which, by the way, I removed some of the starchy bread to allow for a place for the salsa to sit.

My mouth is watering looking at the pictures and thinking about the meal — a healthy, not too heavy summer dinner.

Enjoy!

See how pretty it looks at the new site: FRANtasticFood.com

The Center of the Universe

Yesterday was an interesting day. My oldest son came to town for an interview and we had lunch together. He’s staying with a friend, so it was nice to spend a couple of hours with him and to hear the enthusiasm in his voice about a possible paid internship with a government agency that would be perfect for him in his quest for a happy future.

After lunch as we said our goodbyes and I drove him to his friend’s house for the rest of the weekend, I decided I was going to go into DC to pay my respects as Ted Kennedy’s motorcade made it’s way from the Capital to Arlington Cemetery. I don’t know why I suddenly decided that I needed to go see this short procession of vehicles make their way through the city, but it’s no real surprise. I wanted to be a part of this event that was at “The Center of the Universe” for the day.

I took mass transit in and when I arrived I made my way to the intersection of 12th and Constitution for what I knew would be a brief drive-by. Ironically, without realizing it, I’d parked myself next to the cameras and team from Fox News and watched as they looked for someone to agree to do a quick “man on the street” interview.

I had to pick up my phone and tap out a Tweet when I heard the man in the Red Sox tee shirt say to the reporter, “I’m a liberal,” as though the decision to choose him was a terrible mistake. And although it made sense to pick the guy in the Red Sox shirt, his political views might be inappropriate for a Fox spot, but the on air talent made a comment about loving the Red Sox and brushed off any thoughts of how this guy had the potential to be a poor choice just like that.

I sat for about an hour while waiting for the caravan to make its’ way from the Capital past the intersection I was standing on and watched as the hearse and limos carrying family members made their way past us.

The family looked genuinely happy to see so many people out on the streets. They had their windows open and were smiling and waving as they slowly passed by. I saw Vicky Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Teddy’s sister, Jean Kennedy Smith and the grandchildren and others, but I failed to get good photos. Although I was standing right there on the edge of the street, when the police came by to push us back to the side walk, people rushed out and stood in front of me. My great camera shots up and down the avenue were destroyed.

I suppose what was most important was observing and not documenting in pictures, so I saw what I went to see and that was that. It was another one of those moments to file in the memory bank. One of those spontaneous adventures where the news outlets make you think that very event is the Center of the Universe — as though there is nothing else happening on our planet that day. And like others I’ve experienced, I can say I didn’t miss out this time.

In January I was disappointed that surgery kept me from being able to attend the events during President Obama and our country’s big day and I think when I heard about yesterday’s funeral procession I thought — “I’m not going to miss this one!” I like attending one of a kind events — historic, “center of the universe” events.

I remember almost as though it was just last year the day the Iran hostages came home after 444 days of capture from 1979 – 1981 and that they were going to be welcomed home with a bus ride down Pennsylvania Avenue, past the white House when they came back to the US. I was a young 20 year old working in Georgetown and I felt an overwhelming need to get to the White House to see the hostages as they came by in their busses.

Getting out of work was no easy feat. I was inexperienced in the corporate world and nothing more than a secretary (yes really, that’s what we were called in the late 1970’s) and wasn’t sure how I’d manage to slip out and down to the White House to bear witness to this event, but I knew I had to do it.

I approached the attorneys I worked for and told them I had this desire to see the hostages coming home and much to my surprise, they easily agreed to let me take a long lunch.

I quickly picked up my purse and headed to the Metro so that I wouldn’t miss any of it. It was winter and it was cold, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to be there. It was quick. The busses came down the street and we waved and welcomed the hostages home after their 444 day nightmare. It just felt good to be one of those that took the time to get there.

But just before that event, I strolled down to the National Mall from our apartment on Capitol Hill to witness President Reagan’s inauguration. I didn’t vote for him, but I wanted to be a part of that history. I lived just a few blocks from that day’s “Center of the Universe” event where it was all happening. Why wouldn’t I attend? As he drove by and waved, I waved back.

And there were other events. I remember attending a rally for Walter Mondale in the garment district when I worked in Manhattan. I think my father and sister and I all attended. I seem to recall it being on 7th Avenue, the heart of the garment district and a short walk from our offices. There was a platform set up and we watched as Mondale told us what he would do if he were elected, which of course, was not to happen. But I still have the sweatshirt!

There was the Earth Day celebration in DC in the late 70’s, the N.O.W. rally in the late 80’s and the festivities in DC for the end of Desert Storm that my boys and I attended in what must have been 1991.

Things didn’t change when I moved overseas. I lived in the Philippines when President Estrada was deposed and the build up to that event was long. We knew it was coming, but not how it would happen. We’d been hoping for a peaceful coup another “People Power,” and it happened that way, but building up to the transition of power was a series of peaceful rallies in Manila that we were advised to avoid. So we watched on TV as day after day people would gather to sing and chant and cry out for change. While my colleague and I were hosting a leadership summit in a 4 star hotel in Manila with our team of 18 managers, the coup was inevitable. Suddenly, streets were closed and our security consultants told us we would have to stay at the hotel another night. Not a tragedy. The Shangri-La, Makati was a slice of paradise in a city teaming with people. The next morning, as soon as possible we piled into our vehicles and high-tailed it back to Clark. It wasn’t that we were so afraid of something untoward happening to us, but we were responsible for others and we needed to get them home where we knew they would be safe and sound and far from the hub-bub in the city. I would love to have been able to stick around and watch things unfold, but that would have been terribly irresponsible.

Later, I had a couple of “Center of the Universe” experiences while living in India. Strikes were not unusual, but transportation strikes were all too frequent during my year there. Like this strike in January, 2008, transportation was disrupted and getting employees to and from the office was impossible, not to mention, potentially dangerous. Our only option was to have cots and food brought in and to keep the employees overnight — that included all of us. But you couldn’t just ask employees to stay, even if for their own safety. Many were young women and their parents did not take kindly to their daughters staying in the office with mixed company. We had to make arrangements and ensure we communicated properly to calm nerves and let people know we were taking care of all details and there would be separate rooms for male and female employees.

Oh how fun, we were going to have a sleep over! And we did, but I didn’t bother to sleep and I’m very happy about that since we found that the cots were infested with lice and fleas. Oh joy! But again, it would have been irresponsible to ask my driver to take me back into the city which in traffic was a 60 – 90 minute journey and during a strike could be much longer and very dangerous. Protestors did not take kindly to vehicles plying the roads, so again, it would have been terribly irresponsible on my part to “escape” the “Center of the Universe” that day and expect the 1600 people I was responsible for to stay.

Speaking of irresponsibility … the Summit of the Americas was planned in Mar del Plata, Argentina when I was living in Buenos Aires. I received a call from AOL’s Chief of Security (AOL was my employer) asking me if I could please make my way home for the weekend of the summit, until everything blew over. See, President Bush was not well liked there. I’d been seeing anti Bush posters appear around town and cab drivers loved to talk about their dislike for our president when they realized I was a Norte Americana. I knew there was the potential for problems when a Blockbuster and a couple of CitiBank branches were targeted with small explosive devices and while it seemed a bit extreme to spend the money to fly me back to the US for a last minute trip for a couple of days, it looked like it was probably prudent to send me home. I didn’t feel like making the overnight trip home and back in a weekend, so I was given the option of going to Chile instead. A great option. I’d been wanting to get Chile for months! What a great getaway and I wouldn’t have to pay for it. But then as I was attempting to make reservations, I learned that the international airport was closed and sealed in anticipation of trouble as the Prez was heading back to the US so getting out of the country was just not possible.

My new friend from Security was concerned and made me promise that I would not go to work for 4 days — Thursday through Sunday. Oh my, I was to be held hostage in my apartment for FOUR DAYS because W’s presence in Argentina was possibly going to cause a problem? Alright, I wasn’t happy with the man to begin with, but now his presence in the country was causing this disruption in my life and I was feeling rather isolated.

Well, I could not bear to be alone and cooped up in my apartment for so long so I went to work on Thursday. I mean, what could happen. Bush was still 250 miles south in Mar del Plata. I went to work and all was fine. It was just like any other day. Chavez made an endless speech with Diego Maradona in attendance, looking like he wished he could be on the futbol field, or anywhere but there for much of it and all was quiet in Buenos Aires.

I decided to heed the warnings on Friday — at least for part of Friday. There were reports of possible hostilities in the city and major protests so I thought it best to stay home. But when I watched the news and saw events unfolding in the city I began to get antsy and I had that feeling … that, OH NO! WHAT MIGHT I BE MISSING IF I DON’T GET DOWNTOWN to that day’s “Center of the Universe” events. I could only understand about every 5th word of the news I was watching on TV so I didn’t really know what was going on, other than seeing people with placards marching down the streets. I could hear drums banging and noise on the streets 10 stories below my apartment and I felt like I was missing something.

When I chatted with my dad online he said to me, “Frannie, make yourself a sign and get out there and protest!” That was all I needed to hear. Someone I respected and trusted told me it was ok to head out into the “Center of the Universe.” I didn’t have any sign-making equipment, but I did have my camera and my legs so I washed up, put some money and identification in my purse and headed out to the street.

Was I ever disappointed! I’d missed the rallies near my house and I didn’t know where they’d headed so I made my way to 9 de Julio and walked to the office. In a relaxed atmosphere I worked and when it became dark I decided it was time to head home, but I thought it was probably best not to walk, so I headed downstairs to hail a cab. That just wasn’t possible. Where usually there were cabs as far as the eye could see, there were none. Nada. Nunca. Zip. Zilch. Not a black & yellow car in sight. I headed back inside and up to the office and asked someone to please call a cab for me.

But that wasn’t possible. WHAT?! I was now being held hostage at the office. It was dinner time and there were no vending machines, nothing to eat unless I headed out to the street and apparently, from what we could tell from the TV’s we had mounted above the call center floor, there was a problem in the city. Retail establishments and banks were being hit by protestors and some small explosive devices and fires were becoming problematic.



Cab companies didn’t want to be plying the roads and were reporting very long wait times. So I hunkered down and waited until things stopped sizzling and a cab would agree to come pick me up.

All the while I was feeling embarrassed and rather foolish for thinking I knew better than the trained professional that made me promise him I would not go to work for a few days. Why did I think I knew better?

If someone called me today and told me not to go to work for 4 days I’d be dancing a jig with one hand tied behind my back!

You can see these posts at the new site at:  FRANtasticfood.com.

What would Mr. Darcy Say?

I stumbled upon a a Bollywood movie this morning before work and got sucked right in. “Bride and Prejudice” my not be exactly what Jane Austin thought of when she wrote the legendary book, “Pride and Prejudice,” but then, would any modern-day movie do the book justice? Bride has all the necessary elements family, money, love, disappointment, misinformation, song and dance. Wait!? What’s that — song and dance? Well, of course there was song and dance in the late 1700’s when the book was written, but it wasn’t the breaking out of nowhere in brilliant color and silly dance moves kind of twirling around the stage as we see in a movie like this one.

It’s this fun, tongue in cheek fun and frivolity that makes a Bollywood movie “watchable.”

But what happens to me when I see a movie with Indian roots? I get the craving for all things Indian food. Food supplies are running pretty lean in the kitchen at this point. I’m back to trying to go to the grocery store only once every 2 weeks now to conserve $$, so I was left with little in the fridge and pantry. I have been taking advantage of the farmer’s market that’s held right outside the doors of the store every Thursday, but I’d run out of all but a potato, a zucchini and an onion, so I had to get creative.

There was a bag of small chicken thighs (this chicken was very small!) in the freezer which I’d defrosted overnight. I didn’t know what I was going to do with them until I got the curry craving

I went foraging through the cupboards and found a jar of butternut squash soup I picked up at the store last year during the holiday season. I had this one jar left and that’s when the idea hit me — a sudden craving for pumpkin curry! Butternut squash and pumpkin is very similar and would work perfectly I had a can of coconut milk, a jalapeño pepper, chicken stock in the freezer, garam masala and a jar of ghee (clarified butter), so I had all the ingredients I needed for a kind of South Indian curry. Sure I wasn’t going to be an authentic curry, but it was going to do the trick.

Then I reached into the cabinet for the rice cooker, but decided I just wasn’t in the mood for rice. I wanted to use the potato, onion and zucchini, so a fritter of some sort was in order. I had a small scoop of Boursin cheese left in the fridge, so my curry was about to be invaded by a bit of France. Yep, I just can’t seem to get away from France these days, can I?

The only thing missing was a sari.

Now, it’s time for some blog talk. You know I’ve been wanting a new name and a new look and now is the time to show you what I’ve done. This new blog is not complete. I have yet to figure out how to get comments added and while it’s pretty, really pretty — I like the uncluttered look, it is missing some key elements. I’ll get it together, but for now, have a look and see what you think at FRANtasticfood.com. I’d appreciate it if you’d let me know in the comments field below.

SURPRISE!!

And there’s a surprise! A giveaway! Yes, I’m going to give away a set of capiz shell inlay chop sticks I brought home from The Philippines. What do you have to do to get in on it? It’s easy! Head over to the new blog at FRANtasticfood.com and tell me in the comment field below just what’s different between the two blog posts. What’s the difference between this blog and the one on the new site dated August 28th? Be sure to click on all the links.

Don’t panic! The site is new, there aren’t that many links … yet. And remember to comment below.

What’s the catch? I need to have at least 20 entries in order to award the prize. I’ll use a random number generator to pick the winner, and YES! it’s an attempt to get people to head over to the new blog. Right, I’m trying to generate interest, so get your friends, your family, your co-workers to come on over, read this blog post and click on the link to FRANtasticFood.com and find the difference between the two sites and then come back here and scroll down to the comment field and tell me what’s different.

The contest will end at 9am tomorrow, August 29th so go on, get out there and tell everyone you know, even those you don’t know, to check out the blogs and enter the contest. If this one works well, I’ve got plenty more to give away, and we’re talking big items people! This is just a starter, a re-entry into the give-away zone. Think All Clad, Henkles, Cookbooks. And think treasures from foreign lands. Things could be worse, right?

My Federico Fellini Moment, Perhaps?

I received mail today about new features added to site I use for some of my videos and I couldn’t help trying it out tonight (this morning) after my nighly favorite blog reading session.

You’ve seen the photos before, but not like this. Animoto, a site I registered with a couple of years ago has added a short video clip feature and I love it! You can add video clips and edit them on the fly and add them to your photo slideshow. The only complaint I have with the site is that they haven’t updated the music selection in a while and I am running out of choices.

Check out the video and let me know what you think. It’s not going to win an Academy Award, but the video clip element definitely adds something to the finished product.

A great idea came to me last night. I have everything at my disposal … crazy cappuccino machines, ice cream makers, food processors, stand mixers, juice extractors and more, why not make use of some of it and educate myself at the same time?

So that’s when I hatched the idea to bring home the mixer and pasta press attachment. Well that, and the fact that I had a sudden craving for spaghetti!

I made a big dinner tonight and part of it, the long part was the pasta. It was easy, although it took time, and it was fun. The attachment was a breeze. Once the dough is made it’s as simple as pulling off pieces of dough, rolling them in a ball and putting it into the top of the attachment. The auger on the inside spins and draws the dough down on a path toward the die. I chose to make rigatoni tonight. The only negative I could find was that the pasta was so tender when it came out of the machine I had to be very careful when carrying it to the towel to dry. As the photos show, it didn’t seem to make much of a difference.

And the result was great! I decided that since I was making the pasta from scratch, I’d use a jarred helper from the store for sauce. We recently received a new sauce — Pumpkin Parmesan, so I thought I’d give it a try tonight. It’s easy and I was happy to have the help tonight. There was a flurry of activity in my kitchen with all the food I was putting together, so saving time was imperative.

And now for the surprise you’ve been waiting for…

It’s with some trepidation that I send you to my new site: Frantasticfood.com. Why the hesitation, you ask? Oh, I’d have to say it’s all about change. I embrace change, I welcome it. Well, maybe that’s a wee bit of an exaggeration. Making a major change to a blog is not an easy undertaking. First there’s the whole design issue. Then there’s the problem of getting people to follow you to your new space. I know that well since I did this a year ago. I had an average of 200 people reading the blog on a consistent basis, and it dwindled considerably once I made the change and I never really got the people that dropped off, or got lost, to come back.

But as I’d said before, I’m tired of the Justopia name — it has no meaning any longer and I wanted a cleaner, sharper blog. This has the look, but it doesn’t have much of the functionality that Wordpress offered. This is just a jumping off point. I am still looking for something with the same clean lines and clear presentation, but with the features I liked in Wordpress. It’s going to take time, but for now, this is what you’ll see. Clean, white space.

Now, if I could just figure out how to turn on Comments over there!!

Spontaneity

An idea came to me this morning after I confirmed that I was not scheduled to work today. As I walked back the the house, enjoying the mild breeze, I thought, why not head downtown to the Museum of American History to see the exhibit featuring Julia Child’s kitchen! What a great way to end my “Week of Julia” obsession. And it’s been that, an obsession. I can’t seem to stop cooking Julia-inspired recipes.

I’d originally thought I would get to the market and pick up the few ingredients I needed to make beouf bourguinon, but it was going to be another scorcher and I had a feeling I just wasn’t going to feel like a dinner with such a heavy main course. Instead I stopped at the house, changed my shoes and looked up the mass transit schedule and set out for the National Mall and The Museum of American History to see the Juila Child exhibit.

The trip takes just an hour with the walk and transfer from bus to train. Whenever I make the trip I find myself yearning for a job in DC again. It’s been decades, but I love the city and being in this environment makes me feel alive.

But I digress … when I got off the train the weather had changed significantly. Some of this was due to being in the city, but also the sun was finding it’s way higher in the sky and I knew it was going to be a warm one walking the mall this afternoon.

Much to my surprise, it wasn’t wildly busy on the mall or in the museums today. It’s the height of the summer tourist season, but maybe people went to the beach this week rather than traveling to the city. Nevertheless, I was able to walk right in and view the exhibit without cramped conditions. A docent was leading a group through the exhibit and she said something that surprised me. My understanding is that this is the actual kitchen Julia and her husband, Paul had in their Massachusetts home and that she donated it to the Smithsonian when she moved to California. The docent commented to her charges that it was a replica, that researchers took photos of her actual kitchen and recreated it in the museum. Hmmm… I’ve got some research to do.

I took a few photos, but it was from the other side of lucite or plexiglass or whatever material is used to protect the kitchen from people walking through it and playing with everything on display.

The kitchen looked so inviting — so welcoming and cozy. I’d like to cook in that kitchen, with the copper pots and pans all around and the big table in the middle of the floor and … well, you’ll see in this video:

It’s a small exhibit, but worth the trip. I headed to the Museum of the American Indian for lunch and headed home. It was a hot one and I was happy to be sitting on the train and heading home. On the way to the house I stopped at the Farmer’s Market while walking home from the bus and picked up some beautiful vegetables. While carrying bags of fresh eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes and more, it suddenly dawned on me — I had the ingredients for ratatouille! I’d never made it before and while digging around the KnopfDoubleday site I found that they’d published the recipe for ratatouille from the Mastering the Art of French Cooking book. It was right there in front of me! Thank you.

But…and this is a big but … I wanted to do a more contemporary ratatouille. Oh Julia, I hope you don’t look down on me for this, but I just wanted to bring it into the 21st century.

My change? Nothing big. I used my grill pan rather than just sautéing the eggplant and zucchini. And I didn’t use quite as much tomato. I just didn’t feel like it having an overwhelmingly strong tomato taste.

It turned out really well. It was a fabulous summer dinner. A Grilled Pork Chop, Fire Roasted Corn Salad and Ratatouille. It was time I did something that didn’t involve cream and butter this week!

My mandoline couldn’t handle the eggplant, it was just too big, but it worked beautifully on the zucchini

After letting sprinkling the zucchini and eggplant with salt I let it sit for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes I dried each slice before it was time for grilling.

I wish I could figure out why my reds are so hot, but you get the idea … I quickly blanched the tomatoes to loosen the skin for easy removal.

I sautéed onion and peppers until tender, then added the tomato pulp and cooked until the mixture was reduced.

The next step was to layer the tomato mixture with the zucchini and eggplant slices, sprinkling chopped parsley on top of each of the 3 layers.

The last step is to cook the casserole for another 15 minutes, being sure not to let the bottom scorch.

And voilá Ratatoullie! Thus ends my marathon Julie & Julia cooking extravaganza.

Still Cooking

Come on in, take a seat, let the stress of your day roll off your shoulders for a few minutes and look what I made for dinner tonight! I decided to have one more crack at rich, decadent, buttery, creamy, cheesy, ooey, gooey Julia Child goodness. I picked up a pound of shrimp a few weeks ago, put it in freezer bags and threw it in the freezer for later use. When large shrimp is $4.99/lb. it’s tough to pass up, so I often buy it for later use. There’s nothing wrong with it. Freezing shrimp works very well and in tonight’s Gratin aux Fruits de Mer it was perfect. The recipe, from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, calls for shrimp and scallops, but scallops aren’t a favorite of mine, so it was an all shrimp dish tonight, which worked very well.

While you will surely impress friends and family if you put this on the table, it’s not difficult to make. As a matter of fact, it’s simple.

Sweat a quarter of a finely diced onion in butter

Add 1/4 cup of flour and cook (make a roux), not allowing to turn color

Take the pot off the heat and add 1 cup of boiling milk. From what I’ve read in various food blogs, whether to use boiling milk or not is up for discussion, but I made the béchamel with boiling milk to stay true to the recipe tonight. Add 1/4 cup dry vermouth.

Add a pinch of salt and pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano. Bring the sauce to a boil over moderately high heat, stirring. Boil several minutes to evaporate the alcohol and allow the sauce to thicken considerably; stir frequently. Then thin it out to a medium consistency with 2 – 6 tablespoons of cream, adding a tablespoon at a time until it’s the right consistency. Taste carefully for seasoning. I found I needed to add both salt and pepper, but I was careful with the salt since it’s a shellfish dish, which can add salt naturally.

Fold in the cleaned and deveined shrimp (and scallops, if using). Spoon into a shallow baking dish or two gratin dishes.

Sprinkle on 1/4 cup grated Swiss cheese (or comté or gruyere), and distribute pea sized pieces of butter to the top of the dish. This will help to brown the dish. Bake in upper third of a preheated 400º oven for 15 minutes, or until you see the sauce bubbling and the top is nicely browned.

Because, in the world of Julia, butter truly is a good thing.

Look at how beautiful this Gratin is!! Have you seen anything so devine?

It’s creamy deliciousness.

And while it looked like we may not get a vegetable in here … voilá! Zucchini and Grilled Artichoke to the rescue. Whew! Perhaps not a cardiologist’s dream meal, but at least we got some green in here tonight.

This Gratin aux Fruits de Mer was so fabulous, but alas, I could not finish. That’s OK, because what a GREAT lunch I will be carrying to work tomorrow!

I know what you’re asking now. You made that FRANtastic meal, but WHAT did you do with the rest of that béchamel? Oh, that was easy. I had a box of elbow macaroni in the pantry and a small freezer bag with diced, cooked bacon and part of a bag of mixed Mexican cheese in the fridge, so that left me with one thing — a deliciously decadent mac n’ cheese.

Oh, how very American of me with a Julia influence.

Panko took the place of bread crumbs. I used the last of those in dinner the other night, but panko adds that very crunch you expect from macaroni and cheese and the vermouth brings it to a different level. I’m not sure when I’m going to eat this, but it’s looking like tomorrow night’s dinner.

Oh, but wait! What’s this? There’s more?!!I had a few containers of Greek Yogurt in the fridge that needed to be used so I whipped up a small batch of Vanilla Frozen Yogurt.

We made this on the broadcast a few weeks ago, but I’ll repeat the two easy steps to this delightful dessert:

• 2 cups Greek yogurt — I use full fat, but you can go with 2%
• 1/4 – 1/3 cup sugar

Mix the yogurt and sugar until well combined, transfer bowl to the refrigerator for an hour (or more) until well chilled. Add to your ice maker and follow manufacturer’s instructions. This small batch took a brief 15 minutes to freeze!

Last time I added toasted coconut, but I had none left, so this is just vanilla. One thing to note is that the consistency out of the ice cream maker is what you get in a frozen yogurt store, but once it’s spent some time in the freezer, it becomes hard and needs to warm up just a bit to scoop into a bowl. Honestly, I prefer it fresh.

And that, my friends, is the rest of the story. I know almost 100% of what you see here is white, white, white which means bad, bad, bad for you, but I had to Get My Julie & Julia on one last time before I close this cooking extravaganza chapter. I’m so glad Julie Powell challenged herself. If she hadn’t, I’m not sure how many people would never have taken a walk on the Julia Child side. I don’t know when I would have sought out some of her recipes had it not been for the blog, the book, the movie, so The Julie & Julia Project puts a smile on my face.

A Movie-Inspired Dinner

Or was it a Julia inspired dinner? Or a Julie inspired dinner? It’s difficult to say, really, but all three played a role in a wonderful evening with friends. I’d been waiting for the movie for a very, very long time. I’d heard about Julie Powell after stumbling upon Carol Blymire’s blog and waited in eager anticipation for this movie I felt would speak to me. It did not disappoint. Rather than going into every detail and spoiling the movie for you, let’s “talk” about the pre-movie festivities that went on in my house. The movie experience was not only about sitting in an uncomfortable, aging, broken down movie theater watching the parallel stories of Julie Powell & Julia Child. It was about making an incredible dinner for friends in an atmosphere that I felt was reminiscent of the dinner parties my parents hosted when I was a little girl. My sister and would get to “serve” hors d’oeuvres to the guests, but the best part of the evening was waiting in the kitchen for the remnants of the party to make their way to the table so that my sister and I could sample everything. I remember Boeuf Bourguignon and Coquille St Jacques, Pickled Shrimp and an Apricot Mousse that I always wanted to dive head first into. While not all may have been from Julia Child’s, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, I have to believe it was Julia-inspired. Surely the beef and the scallops were renditions of Julia’s detailed instruction from the book.

Rather than just going to the movie, I decided weeks ago that I wanted to have a party to celebrate the movie and enjoy it with friends I knew would appreciate it all. The night was a success and my only regret is that I didn’t take more photos of the meal or of my friends. How thoughtless! When I prepare dinner for myself I can spend as much time as I want shooting what I’ve made, but I felt self-conscious taking the time needed to get the best angles and I always end up eating a luke warm meal because of the time needed to get the shots, so I didn’t dwell on it. What I did do last night, for the purpose of documenting the evening here in the elusive world of the blog is to shoot night shots to show just how beautiful the table looked when the sun went down with candles and darkness through the windows beyond.

The day started out with housekeeping essentials. While in the very small, very cramped linen closet, I found a tablecloth and napkins I had not only forgotten I owned, but that had never been used. It brought me back to my year in India. I clearly remember the Sunday brunch at the Taj West End in Bangalore with a fellow expat. We walked through the lobby and toward the restaurant when we came across a few women sitting behind a couple of tables with hand made textiles to be sold, presumably for charity. I was in major purchasing mode, as I was most every weekend in India and left with a bag of goodies; table linens among hand embroidered hand towels and napkins.

The detail in the tablecloth and napkins is beautiful; every stitch by hand. The beauty of the hand crafted bounty that made its way back to the U.S. with me, when it was time to move back … well, that’s for another time. We’ll get to it. Perhaps between two hard covers, if I can get my act together. But I digress — The tablecloth and napkins were the perfect base for dinner on a hot August night; so light and airy. With my housekeeping duties complete, it was time to head into the kitchen.

First up, croutons for the salad. I used a different, more healthy method than to use the use gallons of olive oil method than usual. Croutons that become lipid sponges, soaked in quantities of olive oil that would stop your heart just by looking at them. This time I toasted the cubes of French bread on a jelly roll pan for about 20 minutes, until very crisp before drizzling extra virgin olive oil on top and adding salt and pepper and sent them back into the oven for 5 minutes. A baguette has a lot of crust which is perfect for creating crunchy croutons. And it is my duty to tell you that these were the very best croutons I’ve made. No longer will I subject myself or my guests to less then dry, crunchy croutons. That’s my pledge to you. I promise.

The croutons had a lovely home atop a salad and of course, I didn’t build the salad until the just before we were ready to eat although these croutons would have stood up to plenty of time in the dressing.

It was time for the Chicken Fricassee. It’s funny, the meal had India running through it. From tabletop to main course and foating jewel tone Gerber Dasies, India made it’s way into the dinner. Although I tried hard to make it all about France, the Fricassee reminded me of a 1973 trip to India when I was a teenager. We traveled as a family to India and during the month-long trip, we spent a couple of nights in Jaipur- the Pink City. I remember just 2 things about Jaipur; buying gemstones, the star ruby ring my parent bought for me and the hotel. It was an old, colonial building with one of those elevators with the wrought iron gate that had to be closed before you could travel up or down. I remember my sister and I having fun running the elevator so that we could play with the gate. “Going up! Second floor, men’s haberdashery.” (Oh yes, in my childhood, the department stores in Manhattan still had elevator operators. There were no buttons to press to take you to your floor. Excuse me while I go cry — this recollection of my lost youth has just destroyed me). But most of all, I remember that the restaurant had Chicken Fricassee on the menu. By this time I was tired of the aromas of Indian food so having a very Western chicken dish was a welcome respite from the good, but strong flavors of Indian cuisine and I ordered it each night we were in that hotel.

Julia Child’s recipe for Chicken Fricassee did not disappoint. It was, and I don’t say this lightly, PERFECT! Every dish we had that night was from the book and the meal was amazing! Chicken Fricassee, Potatoes Anna and a salad with Julia’s vinaigrette. For dessert, my friend came baring a Strawberry Genoise from Baking with Julia. They say this genoise is like a classic American Strawberry Shortcake and it was! It had the taste and texture of strawberry shortcake made with biscuits, but it was in cake form and it was the perfect consistency to hold up to the cream and berries with a texture that left me with that traditional taste but with a better texture.

And then there was butter in the form of Pommes Anna. Don’t let the dark potatoes at the bottom of the shot scare you. I have so much to learn about photography and lighting and there always seems to be something wrong with each shot. Just ask Food Gawker! While some of the potatoes appear to be burned, they’re not. Trust me, this potato dish was perfect! The buttery potatoes on top were crispy with just the right tenderness below. Ah, scrumptious!

And on to the main event — the fricassee. The surprise at the end is whisking 2 egg yolks and a cup of heavy cream to create a kind of cardiologist’s nightmare slurry. The decadent, creamy goodness acts as a thickening agent and what was wonderful prior to adding the cream and eggs, beccame dangerously delicious! I could have put it in a glass and … well, you get the point. One serving is impossible.

Underneath the not-too-sweet whipped cream and plump summer strawberries hides a delicious combination of cake, berries and cream. Oh no! I think I might have to make a Berry Genoise this week! Somebody stop me, please!!!!

In the end, the night was a delight — good friends, good food, good fun at the movies on a beautiful summer evening. What could be better? It’s played out. It’s run it’s course, but there’s just one thing to be said.

Bon Apetit! In everything you do