I haven’t blogged in a long time. I’m not sure why – or rather, it’s become quite clear to me that I can no longer juggle all aspects of my life: house, children, family, husband, work, friends, entertaining, cooking, writing, reading, etc. I can handle a few at the time, but not all. I can’t short change my family, but everything else must be put aside from time to time. Lately, I’ve done a good job of keeping the house clean, planned our upcoming trip to Argentina, threw a big Halloween party and a small screening of the Wal-Mart movie, and done quite a lot of other things. I haven’t cooked much, though, and have done absolutely no writing. It’s time for that to change.
So let me start by writing about turkey. I hate turkey.
I love the concept of turkey, don’t get me wrong. It’s a beautiful bird, perfectly golden it dresses a table as nothing else. I love the traditions around it, the idea that people all over this country are having variations of the same meal tickles my traditionalist bone.
I encountered my first turkey at my first Thanksgiving dinner, a mere month or so after first arriving to this country. I don’t remember the food as well as I remember the discomfort of the situation. We were having dinner with the family of the husband of the sister of the nun who had taken care of my sister when she’d been a baby. They were people we didn’t know and who, other than the sister, didn’t speak Spanish. I was 12, an age at which I didn’t want to be around adults, much less complete strangers. Still, it was a good introduction to the holiday.
In the following years, my dad would sometimes get a turkey for Thanksgiving. Supermarkets often given them out for free, and my parents are not people to reject a free gift. I ate leg meat and in general I was fine with it. At least I don’t remember any differently.
It wasn’t until my last year of college that I cooked a turkey myself. My best friend had come for the long weekend and for whatever reason we decided to have Thanksgiving dinner. We were joined by J., another friend from Egypt, and an Egyptian friend of his. I found a recipe in the newspaper for orange glaced turkey, and even though it was my first big meal, I had no problem following it. The results was a perfectly cooked turkey with the yummiest, most beautiful skin ever – and turkey-tasting meat underneath ( to make the glace mix orange juice with honey and brown sugar and baste the turkey every 20 minutes for the last hour or so). But hey, the skin was worth it.
In the years to come I roasted turkeys a few more times and continued to be unexcited about the meat. I also ate turkey cooked by others with the same reaction. A couple of times my friend Lola made goose for Thanksgiving, and I loved it – but the times I tried to cook it, I didn’t do a very good job of it. When I went back to hosting Thanksgiving dinner a couple of years back, I forwent the turkey altogether and made a Basque dinner featuring chicken instead (along with foie gras and other goodies).
Then last year I decided that I had to give turkeys one last try. I wanted to get a Heritage turkey, but I didn’t order on on time and instead I bought an organic free range turkey. I brined it, made a good recipe and the turkey was good – for a turkey. But it was still a turkey. And no matter how much I want to like turkey, it’s still a dry, tasteless bird.
Needless to say, this year I’m not making turkey.
I do want to make something special, however. I like the idea of celebrating Thanksgiving with something that I’m not going to make at any other time of the year, something that will have us all look forward to it all year. Like turkey – but actually good. I want it to be something big, that can make a great centerpiece at the table, and that I can make year after year.
Prime rib roast could be a logical choice, but I made that last Xmas eve and I think it’ll become our Xmas eve tradition. I first thought about making lamb shanks – a braise seemed like a logical thing for this time of year and I’ve yet to cook lamb shanks at all. Plus, they could be served with all the traditional Thanksgiving side dishes. But hard as I tried I couldn’t get excited about lamb shanks. They are not big, they are not rare and they just don’t scream “special occation” to me. So I decided to make a lamb rack instead. It’s not particularly big but it’s high price tag (about $13 a pound for a cut that is mostly bones) guarantees that I won’t be making it often (indeed I have yet to make it, precisely for that reason). And it can have a beautiful presentation. So I looked up recipes on the internet and I settled on the following menu:
–Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Lemon and Saffron
–Rack of Lamb with Red Currant Wine Sauce
–Toasted Israeli Couscous with Pine Nuts & Parsley
–Sweet Corn Tomalito
-Green Beans Almondine
and some storebought dessert
I tasted an amazing Jerusalem artichoke soup at Aziza last year, and I’d love to try it again. The lamb recipe got high accolades at epicurious – and I’m pretty fond of sweet sauces in general. Which such a delicate meat and sweet sauce, however, traditional Thanksgiving side dishes wouldn’t work so I spent quite a while figuring out what to serve (now that Camila won’t let me read while I feed her, I have plenty of time to think of things as she nurses herself to sleep). Couscous is my starch of choice when serving sweet dishes, and the one time I had Israeli couscous I loved it. Plus it’s pretty popular now when regular Maghrebi couscous has become passe. The corn tomalito is another sweet yet gentle dish that I love but have never made, and while it won’t look too different from the couscous, it’ll have a completely different flavor. Asparagus might work best as the vegetable – but Mike doesn’t like it, so the very simple green beans almondine seemed like the best choice.
The menu seemed both mouth watering and well balanced and I was excited about cooking it – until today. Today, is when I went shopping for the ingredients.
It would probably have been a better idea to have Mike drop me off at the different supermarkets while he did something else with the kids. As it was, they were both very tired, very grumpy, and very loud. I usually like shopping, but tonight it was sheer torture. So much so that I realized that I’m just not emotionally ready to cook a big meal on Thursday.
I always look forward to cooking as something fun and relaxing. I often try to do too much so it seldom is (and soon I’ll blog about my Halloween party, when this became very clear), and often time it becomes stressful rather than fun. Though usually I can revel on the fruits of my efforts at dinner time. But still, I haven’t started cooking yet and I’m tired and stressed – that’s how I’m supposed to feel at the end of the cooking day, not the day before! Of course, part of the stress is that I couldn’t find some of the key ingredients: the Jerusalem Artichokes, the Israeli couscous and the rack of lamb. OK, they had the former, but I thought the ones at Costco looked better so I was planning to send Mike to buy it tomorrow.
So I decided I have to simplify things. Instead of doing a rack of lamb, I’ll do a leg of lamb. That’s something that we make during the year, but I have a recipe which is both simple and delicious. Plus I can serve it with the typical Thanksgiving dishes, so my new menu is:
–Persimmon soup (as I have so many persimmons)
–Armenian Roast Leg of Lamb
–Sweet Corn Tomalito (already bought the masa)
-Garlic Mashed Potatoes
-Baked apples & yams (maybe, if I have time, for the girls)
-Stouffer Stuffing (’cause it’s easy and I like it)
-Green Beans almondine
Some Safeway bought dessert.
and that’s that. Won’t be grand but I’m sure it’ll be better than turkey.
Author: marga (Page 88 of 112)
This restaurant is closed
Another restaurant I’ve been remissed in reviewing is Tuttle’s Sea Garden on Bancroft. The little restaurant had skipped our radar until our daughter started going to daycare in the Broadmoor district and we started to go by in on a daily basis. One time when we both picked her up (September 2005) we decided to stop for lunch and see what they had to offer.
The little restaurant has a counter and a small, informal dining room, but it’s clearly mostly a take-out place. Still, it’s much nicer than most BBQ joints, a perfeclty fine place to have lunch. At about 1 pm on a weekday, however, we were the only people eating there, though several came to pick up orders.
The menu basically consists of fried fish and chicken and BBQ meats. The day we were there they were out of the BBQ beef so instead I went with the BBQ Ribs ($11 for 4, $13 for 6 large ribs). They were good, the meat was very tender but they had the consistency of ribs that had been boiled rather than slowly barbecued. The BBQ sauce was nice, not very spicy, though still not as good as E&J’s. The ribs come with potato salad, coleslaw or fries – I had the latter and honestly can’t remember them 🙂
Mike had the catfish ($7.75 for 3 pieces), which he thought was quite good, though couldn’t elaborate on how.
We still prefer E&J’s for our BBQ needs, but Tuttle’s is a perfectly acceptable place to go.
Tuttle’s Seafood Garden
395 Bancroft Ave.
San Leandro, CA.
510.635.5911
Tu-Sa 11am-9pm
I’m not a huge fan of Macaroni and Cheese (Ok, Ok, I don’t like it) but Mike loves it and, predictably, Mika does as well. I hate the idea of her eating that stuff that comes from a box (what is it, anyway?) so I’ve finally decided to make my own. Someone in craigslist recommended this Macaroni and Cheese recipe by Alton Brown, and as it got quite a lot of good reviews I tried it. I wasn’t sure if Mika would like the sharp cheddar, and I found that 10 oz of cheese was just not enough taste, so I ended up using 14 oz of combined medium cheddar, white cheddar and jack cheese. Next time I’ll try the sharp cheddar instead. The original recipe also called for 1/2 teaspoon of hot sauce, but I didn’t have any so I ommitted it. In any case, Mika is so weary of anything slightly spicy that I wouldn’t have wanted to tempt fate. I’m sure it makes a difference, though, so if you don’t have picky kids around, by all means add it.
The results were good. Mika didn’t like it at first (but she may have been put off it ’cause it was hot – I have to remember to wait until the food is tepid before serving it), but later she had a bowl with her dad and asked that we send some for lunch at school today. My friend Desiree loved it and Mike said that it was very good, it tasted better than the boxed stuff, but he still prefers it out of a box. *sigh*
My version of the recipe:
Fill a large pot with water, add kosher salt and bring to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook until done. Drain. Return to the pot, add the butter, and cook on low heat until the butter melts, stirring.
Whisk the eggs, evaporated milk, mustard and salt and pepper together. Stir into the pasta. Stir in the shredded cheese. Mix and cook over low heat for 3 minutes or until the cheese melts, stirring. Serve.
The Food service and Inspection Service has recalled several ready-to-eat meat and poultry products sold at Trader Joe’s (under its marks). Listeria was found at the processing plant. Listeria is a bacteria that causes listeriosis, normal adults are not at much risk for it, but pregnant women are 20 times more likely to develop it. It can cause miscarriage, pre-term labor, stillbirth and serious health problems for newborns. Concerns about listeriosis is why pregnant women stay away from sushi, soft cheeses and deli meats. Apparently, they should also stay away from TJ’s ready-to-eat foods.
Here is the recall notice:
Recall Notification Report 044-2005
During our trip to the Olympic Peninsula we spent a night at the Kalaloch Lodge and (with no other options in sight) had both dinner and breakfast there. It wasn’t a bad experience. The Kalaloch Lodge is located in a beautiful setting next to the beach and the restaurant has great views of the Pacific Ocean; reserve early to get a window seat. The restaurant has a lodgy feeling with wood-covered ceilings and walls, though it looks more functional than cozy.
The menu is American/Pacific Northwest, and has a strong emphasis on seafood. Appetizers and burgers were $7 to $11, while main entrees $10-26. There is also a children’s menu with the usual offerings for $3-5.
Mike started with the clam chowder ($4 for a cup). He found it a bit salty, but overall good – better than your average clam chowder. It had big chunks of clam and celery, which he liked.
He continued with the seafood pasta ($22). It came with 2 scallops, 4 or 5 chunks of salmon, several large shrimp and red and yellow pepper, all in a very cheesey alfredo sauce. He was quite pleased with the dish.
I had the beef stew ($10), which was nice and hearty and I enjoyed (though not as much as mine, of course).
Probably the low point of the dinner was the service, the restaurant was busy though it didn’t seem understaffed. However, our waitress disappeared after bringing the soup and didn’t come to offer refills on the bread or the drinks, even though it took a long time before the entrees came.
The next day for breakfast service was better, but then again, the restaurant was less crowded. Their breakfast menu offers classics – pancakes & egg dishes – I had some really good granola and Mike had the pancake and egg combination which he enjoyed.
In all, we had good meals and we’d eat there again if we were staying at the lodge.
Kalaloch Lodge
157151 Hwy. 101
Forks, WA
866-525-2562
http://www.visitkalaloch.com/restaurants.shtml
During our visit to Port Townsend last month, we had dinner at the “Surf” restaurant. The restaurant is located by the waterfront and has beautiful views of the harbor. Inside it sort of resembles a pizza parlor, it has an enclosed bar area, a billard room and a couple of separate dining rooms. Tons of high chairs and booster seats make it perfect for a family with tired children.
The menu was mostly seafood based with most entrees in the low teens. Mike had one of the four daily specials, salmon in some sort of sauce, the sauce was mild but overall he liked it. I had the fish & chips which were also good. Service was friendly though the waiter seemed to be quite distracted.
If you go to Port Townsend, you could do worse than the “Surf”. However, it seems that the restaurant will be either closing or changing ownership soon.
Surf Restaurant
106 Taylor St
Port Townsend, WA
(360) 385-2992
We’ve eaten at many places on I-5 between the Bay Area and LA, and I have to say that “The Ranch Kitchen” has been the best of the bunch. Now, considering that most of the restaurants on this stretch are quite bad, this is not necessarily high praise, but the food we had there was actually pretty good. Alas, while it’s not as expensive as the actual Harris Ranch restaurant (where entrees hover in the thirties) it is pretty expensive, with sandwiches in the low teens and entrees in the high teens to high twenties)
The menu is beef driven, of course and both Mike and I decided on the Gorgonzola burger, at $11 one of the cheapest items on the menu. The burger consisted of a 1/3 lb patty topped with gorgonzola cheese, caramelized onions, grilled pancetta a roasted red pepper and mayo. Mike thought that it was quite good, but I felt it was somewhat unbalanced. The toppings seem to compete in flavor, rather than compliment each other, and the taste of the beef disappeared underneath so many other flavors. Still, it was an enjoyable eat. We both liked the fried potatoes, these seasoned thick slices of potato, slightly crunchy outside and very soft inside. Mike had onion rings instead, and he felt there were too few of them for the extra $1.50. They were good, but would have been better with a dipping sauce (none was offered).
Mika had the chicken strips ($6) which had a light breading and were actually made of chicken breast. Alas, they were a bit dried. They came with the same fries I got, Mika didn’t really like them and I’d prefer there would have been a healthier alternative.
Both Kathy and Mika had vanilla milkshakes, they were a bit too thin.
Service was good and in all we had a good meal, despite the expense we will probably stop here on our way to LA in the future.
On a final note, we went for dinner at the Harris Ranch restaurant once a few years ago, and while we found it both expensive and overpriced, the food was surprisingly good.
The Ranch Kitchen
Harris Ranch Inn & Restaurant
24505 West Dorris Avenue
Coalinga, CA
1.800.942.2333
http://www.harrisranch.com/
During my trip to Rockridge earlier this week I picked up some rabbit at Enzo’s Meat and Poultry shop. It was then time to look for a recipe, and as usual Epicurious came to the rescue. Even though I now own a gazillon cookbooks, I often resort to Epicurious as their recipes are user-reviewed and this one for Rabbit with Mustard Sauce got good reviews.
It was great. The rabbit itself wasn’t that wonderful – but then again, I seldom find rabbit meat to be that flavorful by itself – but the sauce was delicious. It was also fairly simple to make and calls for few ingredients. I think next time I’ll make it with chicken instead, however – and I’ll definitely make it again!
Earlier this week I took my two girls to Rockridge by BART. We’d done that < a href="http://www.marga.org/food/blog/archives/001739.html">once before and Mika and I had enjoyed it. We hit Crepevine, Rockridge Kids, a very nice toystore where Mika loves to play and the Rockridge Marketplace, where I got some rabbit and duck legs to cook at home. But it was the allure of Crepevine which had made Mika so excited about the trip.
Crepevine is a small restaurant serving both savory and sweet crepes, in addition to soups, sandwiches, pastas and breakfast items. It offers sitting both inside, and in a covered patio with easy access to the street. I’m looking forward to trying their savory crepes sometime, but this time I’d had some lunch so I decided to go with a sweet one instead. These are served folded as an envelope and come with a scoop of French vanilla ice cream (I think) and cream. I got the one with mascarpone cheese and a sweetened nut mixture. It was good but nothing speciall and there was too little filling for the crepe, I don’t think I’d order it again. Mika once again decided on the banana and caramel run one, which we both liked. Camila even got to enjoy some of the banana pieces.
I didn’t really like the ice cream – though perhaps that’s because its flavor was too subtle to compete with the ones from the crepe – by Michaela loved it.
I’m pretty sure that going to Crepevine is going to be part of our routine when visiting Rockridge. Next time I’ll have to try the savory crepes.
Crepevine
5600 College Avenue
Oakland, CA 94618
(510) 658-2026
Last Saturday our local library had its book sale and I scored a lot of cookbooks. Granted most of the stuff they had was quite old, but for $1 for hardcovers and 50-cents for softcovers, who can complain? Now I need a place to store all these books!
Anyway, I got a few spiral or home-bound books:
-Traditional Quebec Cooking by Micheline-Mongrain-Dontigny
circa 1995
-Authentic Indian-Mexican Recipes by William Hardwick
a small pamphlet circa 1965 of recipes from the Rio Grande region
-Unusual Acadian Recipes for the sweet toogh by Mercedes Vidrine
These are cake & pastry recipes from the Acadians that settled in Louisiana, aka Cajuns
-The Romaian Way of Cooking by The Geroy’s of St. Mary’s Romanian Orthodox Church in Ohio
Really, Romanian-american recipes, c. 1968
–Kauai Cookbook by the Kekaha Parent-Teacher’s Association
c. 1959
–Recipes: The Cooking of the Caribbean Islands
a Time-Life publication
Though I have several Caribbean cookbooks, i got this one because it helpfully mentions what country each recipe comes from. Often times Caribbean cookbooks don’t.
I also got several books from the Time-Life “Foods of the World” collection circa 1968. These are all hard cover books. I got:
and finally a couple of hardcover cookbooks
-Russian Cookinb
a translation of a Russian original circa 1974
-The Balkans Cookbook by Jugoslovenska Knjiga
circa 1987
and finally:
The complete American Housewife – 1776 by Julianne Belote
A book on colonnial cooking circa 1974
Now it’s time for me to get cooking!
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