Happy New Year!!

I hope you all enjoyed the holidays with your loved ones. I am so grateful for the lovely time I had with my family on Christmas Day. As I had hoped, we did play a little game after dinner where two questions were presented to everyone: what is your favorite time of day? and what is your favorite comfort food? After everyone wrote their answers on slips of paper, I collected them and read them off so everyone could list them on a separate piece of paper. They then wrote their guesses of who belonged to each pair of answers.

The answers were as fun to hear as they were enlightening. Some people were easy to guess because their answers were so obvious, but others were more difficult because we've never shared such information before now. When we were done guessing, everyone had to elaborate on their time-of-day selection. The answers were fascinating. My mom, especially, loved learning more about her family and couldn't wait to share her list with her home care giver the next day. My sons had a later conversation about what really qualifies as comfort food to them. And I started an Excel file on the family with a tab for each person. As time goes on, we'll continue the game, asking different questions during each session. It will be an easy way to record their behind-the-scenes stories and enjoy some family fun in the meantime.

Happy New Year to you all!

Potpourri: NYC! A View from the Inside

On our recent trip to New York City, I had in mind to explore the city in a different way than I had in the past. I had seen the touristy, glitzy side of the city on a couple of previous trips. This time, I wanted to immerse myself in some of the neighborhoods and local hangouts, to get a sense of what it was like to be a New Yorker, to talk to everyday people about their lives there.

We learned a great deal by conversing with a United Nations of cab drivers, hotel staff members, and food service people; by visiting a couple of old friends; and by spending an afternoon with a couple of colorful Italians who are our coffee clients. I think we just scratched the surface in getting to know more about NYC, but it was a good start. Here are a few of our inside views:

A casual Italian restaurant with a take-out front shop, Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria, nestled in the old Bowery section, just down the street from our hotel. It seems to draw locals, as well as notable food celebrities. The food was mouthwatering.

A view from our hotel of the East Village skyline. Love the rooftop gardens you can spot here and there. Everything of interest here was on the outside. Our room was so small, there was barely room to walk around the bed.

Inside the magnificent Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The grandeur and architectural achievement take your breath away.

Of course, we had to feed my fondness for Rembrandt paintings inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The caricatures inside the dining room at Sardi's bring to mind the old movie days of Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball, Bob Hope and more.

How could we ignore the New York prices for coffee drinks at Sardi's compared to what we see here is the SF Bay Area?

More grand architecture inside the renowned Shubert Theatre.

Our favorite breakfast place, Gemma's, inside the old Bowery Hotel.

A view from inside Washington Square Park. Such a lovely environment in the middle of the concrete jungle and surrounding NYU.

This is the NY lifestyle I wanted to know more about . . . the quiet neighborhoods in the West Village.

Inside Gray's Papaya, a signature hot dog stop for locals and visitors alike.

Our Italian coffee clients,Lucca and Enrico, with Mike inside their Queens coffee shop, Triple Shot World Atlas Cafe.

The City, from inside a car crossing the Manhattan Bridge.

We enjoyed the fun decor inside Lily's Restaurant, an eclectic Midtown eatery in the Theatre District.

We couldn't leave New York without being on the inside of a powerful flash thunder/lightning storm at the South Street Seaport.

Potpourri: More Summer Crop Recipes

Though my time was tight this weekend, I had to find time to process some of the bounty that is flowing from my garden, for fear it would soon go bad. The heat brought out a new surge of green beans; the zucchini is growing by inches each day; and the strawberries are out of control. And, I still had two overflowing cookie sheets of the plums we picked before our vacation.

Some recipes are good no matter how old they are. Often they're the best. So I decided to reach back to some simple tried-and-true recipes for both the green beans and the plums.



Stewed Green Beans
My mom has been making this recipe as long as I can remember. No tender-crisp beans here. They are soft and delicate, stewed in a simple tomato sauce that fills the house with a lovely home-cooked aroma.

2 Tbsp olive oil
2-4 Tbsp chopped onion
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
1-2 lbs. green beans, snapped and stringed
1 8oz. can tomato sauce or 5-6 fresh tomatoes, chopped
Chicken broth
1 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add green beans and tomato sauce. Stir. Add enough chicken broth to just about cover the beans. Add basil and season to taste. Bring to a boil, then simmer until beans are very tender, about 45 minutes. Add more broth if needed. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Plum Jam
This recipe comes from an old Homes and Gardens cookbook. Plums have enough pectin in them that there is no need to add more. I don't do formal canning. I wash jars and lids in the dishwasher right before using them so they are still steaming hot. Then I keep jars of jam in the freezer until I use them. Once I open them, I refrigerate them.

5 cups processed plums (pitted and coarsely chopped in food processor)
4 cups sugar

Combine plums and sugar in a large, heavy pot. Allow mixture to sit for 1 hour. Boil hard, stirring often, until jam sheets off of the spoon, 12-15 minutes. Immediately fill hot jars. Makes 5-6 half-pints. *I used 6 cups plums and 4.25 cups sugar, and got almost 5 pints of jam. Secure lids tightly once jam has cooled.

Potpourri: Easy, Addicting Guacamole

When I was formulating the menu for the engagement party we recently hosted, I had to include the one dish that always seems to please a crowd: a creamy mountain of guacamole surrounded by plenty of fresh corn chips. In years past, I was always one to overload my guacamole with way too many ingredients, thinking it would be that much better if I added tomatoes, onions, garlic, cheese, peppers, and who knows what else. But a few years ago, we vacationed in Puerto Vallarta. A couple of lovable local cooks gave me a lesson in guacamole making, and I've been keeping it simple since then.

Avocados, lime juice and salt! That's all they used. I couldn't believe how delicious it was that way. The taste of the avocados really shined. But since I'm a cilantro addict, I do have to sneak some into the recipe if I have it around, and I usually throw in either a little garlic powder or chopped garlic chives. Garlic is good for you, right? So here's how guacamole comes out of my kitchen these days.

Ingredients:
2 avocados
Juice of 1/2-1 lime
1 tsp kosher salt
1 Tbs fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 1/2 tsp garlic chives, finely chopped or 1/4 tsp garlic powder

Instructions:
Halve and pit the avocados. Scoop out the avocado meat with a spoon. In a shallow bowl, mash avocados with a fork or potato masher to desired texture. Add limejuice, salt, cilantro and garlic. Mix thoroughly. Allow to sit for at least 1/2 hour to blend flavors.
Serve this yummy appetizer with some of the great organic chips that are out there these days.

Potpourri: Ultimate Vanilla Cupcakes

Our son's Engagement Party happened Saturday. It was a fun and emotional day, and a successful "meet the families" weekend. Our son and his fiancée were radiant. It turned out that the shining star of the culinary offerings was the cupcake tower. Everyone went nuts over the yummy, delicate delights. We did a lot of experimenting months ahead to find the right recipe. We scrapped a couple of recipes that were too dense and dry. In the meantime, I also considered the food sensitivities of guests, especially those who were lactose-intolerant. In the end, we found the magic recipe; one that proved to be worth the extra time and effort it took to make them.

For the lactose-sensitive folks, I made the following substitutions: Almond milk instead of whole milk, IMO instead of sour cream, and Earth Balance Buttery Sticks instead of butter. That batch actually came out fluffier than the regular recipe.

The cake was over-the-top rich in vanilla flavor because it included vanilla from real vanilla beans, as well as 100% pure vanilla extract. The most time-consuming part of the process was scraping the seeds from the vanilla beans and working them into the sugar that would be used in the recipe. I completed that task two weeks ahead of time, so I wouldn't have to waste precious time right before the party, time that was at a premium. It turned out that the advance step allowed the vanilla to mellow into the sugar, making it that much more pungent when time came to make the cupcakes (our houseguest for the weekend, the soon-to-be maid of honor, managed to steal a few spoonfuls of the vanilla sugar for her coffee, and almost swooned over the added flavor.)

I'm including the links to the actual online recipes for both the cupcakes and the frosting. I must give credit where due to the bakers who developed these recipes. Give the cupcakes a try for a truly special treat!!

The Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake!

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Enjoy!

Note: Just for fun, the cupcakes were topped with toothpicks that bore a picture of the happy couple on one side and well wishes on the flip side.

Potpourri: Lemon/Rosemary Chicken Tenders

For my son's engagement party this coming weekend, I plan to lay out a sandwich bar, where guests may choose from yummy ingredients and build the sandwich of their liking on either the fresh focaccia I detailed last week or freshly baked sandwich rolls. I will butterfly and marinate the chicken tenders the previous day, then on party day, I'll broil them just until they are tender and succulent. Aside from the standard lettuce, tomatoes, cheeses, and condiments, I will offer a basil pesto sauce, a Thai peanut sauce, guacamole, and some roasted sweet peppers. That way, guests may build their sandwiches as simply or exotically as they please.

I did something similar for my mom's 85th birthday party, and the sandwiches were a big hit. To my surprise, the focaccia shone as the star sandwich component (see my Focaccia blog post). The chicken ran a close second.

Lemon/Rosemary Chicken Tenders

Marinade - per 12 pieces:

Fresh or frozen chicken tenders (allow 2-3 per serving)
3/4 C Olive oil
Juice from 1-2 lemons (throw chopped rinds in with marinade)
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp garlic powder or 2 cloves fresh garlic, chopped
1/4 C onion, coarsely chopped
2 sprigs fresh or 1.5 tsp dried rosemary

Instructions:

Defrost tenders. Carefully butterfly them by giving them a sideways cut 3/4 of the way through. Then open them up and flatten them out so the pieces are double-wide and half as thin. Place all ingredients in a gallon size ziplock bag. Push out excess air and seal. Massage ingredients in the bag until marinade is well mixed and all chicken pieces are coated. Place on a large plate or pan and refrigerate overnight, turning bag over once in a while.

Remove bag from fridge at least an hour before cooking. Remove tenders from bag and allow excess marinade to run off of the tenders before placing them on a broiling pan. Broil the tenders 3-4 minutes on each side, just until they start to brown and the juices run clear when you cut into them. Keep in a foil-covered pan until ready to serve.

From Mama Galuchi's Kitchen: Homemade Focaccia

Heaven's Wait will be sitting on the back burner for the next few weeks because I have some fun family and vacation events coming up. I'm gearing up for the engagement party we're throwing for my son, Shaun, and his fiancée Kimberly. Kimberly's college graduation is the day before the party, and our trip to the east coast begins a few days after the party.

So, in the meantime, I'll use my blog days to share some of the recipes I'm using for party food, tried and true choices from "Mama Galuchi's" kitchen. Mama Galuchi is how my family fondly refers to me when I'm in the kitchen whipping up yummy concoctions. Today's recipe seems to win the prize as everyone's favorite. It just kind of evolved from many trials and errors over the years, but always seems to win rave reviews. For the engagement party, it will serve as our sandwich bread for the sandwich bar I plan to assemble. Try it - you'll like it!!

Mama Galuchi's Focaccia
7/8 cup water
1 Tbs milk
1 tsp margarine
2.5 cups bread flour
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs sugar
2.5 tsp dry yeast
1 Tbs wheat germ
1 Tbs wheat bran

Olive oil
Kosher salt
Garlic powder
Thyme leaves, fresh or dried

Instructions:
Place ingredients from water to wheat bran into bread machine bowl in the order listed (wet ingredients first). Process in machine on dough setting (approx. 1.5 hrs). Remove dough and roll out onto well floured board into a 1/2" thick rectangle. An uneven shape works fine.Transfer dough to a parchment paper lined flat baking sheet. With a spiral motion starting at an outer corner, poke your finger into the dough about every inch until you reach the center. Slowly drizzle a small trail of olive oil over the dough and use a pastry brush to work the oil over the dough and into the indentations. Sprinkle with kosher salt, garlic powder and thyme to your taste. Slide dough on parchment paper off of the baking sheet and onto the center rack of a preheated 360 oven. Bake for about 20 minutes. Remove to baking sheet. Cool on a baking rack. Cut into 8-12 generous pieces.

Other Info, Hints:
Serve with various main dishes; slice with sideways cut for sandwiches; fill with your favorite panini ingredients and grill. Yummy!

A Time for Garden Renewal

I took the past week off from writing in order to oversee the renovation of our backyard garden. Fifteen years after its initial landscaping, the garden was feeling quite weary, with plants choking from excess moss above ground and gnarly oak tree roots beneath the surface. The irrigation system was riddled with gopher chew holes and blown-off sprayers, both of which distributed water in haphazard fashion to all the wrong places. Pesky regional weeds were outshining the original plantings, and the soil was desperate for nutrients. In the midst of all of my creative endeavors, I had disappointed my own backyard with my lack of attention. It was calling out to me, "Mama, please help!"

We live in a quiet, lovely spot, just far enough away from the rest of the neighborhood to allow us a little peaceful seclusion. But I wasn't feeling the peace when, every time I looked outdoors, endless work was staring me down, in the form of hose repair, root removal, and the constant pursuit of rampant weeds. Instead, I found myself retreating to the vegetable garden on the eastern side of our lot (which last year suffered a major gopher invasion of its own).

The time had come for some renovation. Sometimes you simply have to call in the experts. I reached out to the creative woman who was one of the original landscape architects for our property, and she came to my rescue. Her vast knowledge of plants and her talented eye for color and texture were a breath of fresh air. She offered immediate ideas for renewal, as well as help with irrigation and nutrient issues. She inspired me to start loving my back garden again, and what a good feeling that was.

So now, new soil, new plantings, and new water distribution are in place. I spent the weekend adding spots of annual color and ridding the remaining nooks and crannies of weeds and litter. I was sticky, sweaty, bug-bitten, and dirty by the time I was done, but it felt so good to once again dig in the earth, hang with the creatures, and listen to the silence, which is actually a very loud chorus of nature's best. I'm back home where I belong, in my own backyard.

Blog Break: Ladies Retreat Weekend

There will be no post today because I'm heading to Grass Valley, CA for a long weekend with a fabulous group of women. We've been enjoying these springtime retreats for well over 20 years now, and we're still going strong.

Our original common bond was the fact that all of our kids attended the same elementary school. Since then, we've shared our kid's growing pains and evolution into adulthood; the loss of parents and loved ones; the joys as our kids added marriages and grandchildren to our families; and most importantly, a unique friendship that has deepened significantly as years have passed.

So we'll cozy in with our sleeping bags, family stories, and mountains of outstanding food. We'll escape the real world for a couple of days, and return more relaxed and enlightened than before, because we took the time for each other.

I'll return with a new post next Friday. Have a great weekend.