At the End of the Day

A day is just a day. Of course, there are things that have not gotten done and, of course, there are the inevitable disappointments that all humans face. But to live with joie de vivre arms you to better face those things. I know that this is true and I know that a happy life is the one big thing that everyone wants. So look for ways to find that and remember that another day dawns tomorrow. A demain.

Joie de Vivre: Simple French Style for Everyday Living

The perfect perspective on the day.

Food Encompasses Everything

As cooking becomes less and less an everyday activity, there are those who tend to idealize it, and the cook is vaunted as the nurturer, the provider of good things and the person who gives an essential embrace. All that's true, but the shortcomings of the food-as-love brigade are to that too much emphasis is put on food, but not enough. Food isn't just love, food encompasses everything: it may be only a part of life but in an important way it underpins the whole of it. Basic to the whole ting of being human is that we use food to mark occasions that are important to us in life. Feast is not just about the way we cook and eat at the great religious festivals or big-deal special occasions, but about how food is the vital way we celebrate anything that matters -- a birthday, a new job, a anniversary; it's how we mark the connections between us, how we celebrate life.

Feast by Nigella Lawson

How to Spend $90 for Spices

You go to Penzey's, home of the freshest, best spices anywhere, and order:

• Chili Ancho Ground - 8oz bag (a nice change from chili powder sometimes)
  
• Chili Powder Regular - 16oz Bag (I can't run the kitchen without lots of good chili powder)
  
• Cinnamon Vietnamese Ground - 4oz bag (Christmas baking is coming up!)
  
• Cumin Ground - 8oz bag (I can't run the kitchen without lots of cumin either)
  
• Ginger Crystalized - 16oz bag (I cook with this occasionally but Hannah eats it for snacks ALL the time)
  
• Shrimp/Crab Boil - 4oz bag (Cold, boiled shrimp is Tom's favorite so we have it a lot)
  
• Vanilla Single Strength 16oz bottle (year round baking and ... Christmas is coming)
  
• Cocoa Natural 16oz bag (qty. 3) (the best cocoa I've ever found ... accept no substitutes!)
  

Paddington Nooner

When Hannah's friends all came over after Homecoming last week for a scavenger hunt and late night movies, this is the cake that I had ready to give them that extra blast of energy.

I got it from the newspaper many years ago and I remember that it originally won second place in a chocolate recipe contest. As for the name, I know there is a character called Paddington Bear but never read the books.

What I do know is that this is hands-down the easiest, most chocolatey, not-too-sweet chocolate cake I have ever made. It always turns out perfectly and is a favorite with everyone.

Step 1:
Cocoa powder
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 12-cup tube or bundt pan and dust sides/bottom with cocoa.

Step 2:
1-1/4 cups strong black coffee
1/4 cup dark creme de cacao or other liqueur (I have used Grand Marnier, creme de menthe, and cherry liqueur ... basically any flavor that goes with chocolate will work here)
5 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 cup butter, softened
Heat the coffee and creme de cacao over low heat; add the chocolate and butter. Cook, stirring constantly, until smooth.

Step 3:
2 cups sugar
Remove from heat; stir in sugar. Let stand 5 minutes.

Step 4:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Sift together. Add chocolate mixture to flour in small parts.

Step 5:
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
Add eggs and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Pour into prepared pan. Bake approximately 1 hour or until cake tests done. Cool completely on rack before unmolding. Best if served cold.

UPDATE: Photo now included, per ukok's request. Much thanks to Veronica on the Verge who provided food photography (along with rave reviews ... she used peppermint schnapps as a flavoring liqueur).

The Nap

When I told you about the normal working-day lunch in France, I mentioned that it is customary after le dejeuner to take a few moments alone to read, relax on a bench, or to have a quick snooze under a tree. A nap is simply an extension of this idea and is customary after a big meal like a Sunday lunch.

A nap is not actually about sleeping, it is more about resting. It requires privacy. This is my ideal nap situation: When I have cooked and enjoyed a big lunch for my family, I really look forward to a small break. I have a daybed tucked into a cool, dark corner of the family room in our house in France. I take off my shoes, unbutton my collar, loosen my belt, and maybe even undo the top button of my pants. The idea is that I want to have plenty of room to take slow, deep breaths. Sometimes, I put a little cover over my legs, but in no way do I settle in for a long time. A perfect nap is about twenty minutes to half an hour.

Joie de Vivre: Simple French Style for Everyday Living

I feel more relaxed just reading about this much less actually getting to lie down for a bit. I always loved the story about Winston Churchill who took his apres lunch nap so seriously that he would change into pajamas.

G is for Gobstopper

The vulgar British term for a huge spherical, hard-boiled sugar sweet, impossible to crunch up so that it has to be sucked. It is often made with concentric layers of different colours, so that it changes colour as it dissolves.

The Penguin Companion to Food

Don't you just love that name? Somehow so much more vulgar and still so much better than "jawbreaker" ...

The HobNob

The HobNob achieved one of those rare feats for new products by being simultaneously new and yet familiar, as if we were merely being reintroduced after an unexplained absence... The cheerful orange pack, the strap line 'One nibble and you're nobbled' and, of course, the name all helped to place the biscuit comfortably on the stage of UK biscuits. The name begged not to be taken seriously, and told us that this was a biscuit for the honest masses, at the time of the rise of the yuppie in Britain under Margaret Thatcher.

Nicey And Wifey's Nice Cup Of Tea And A Sit Down

Not glamorous but with or without chocolate, these are one of the classic cookies around.

Picnics ... French Style

I have been on some nightmarish picnics in my time. I do not like going to the beach and sitting hunched over on a blanket in the hot sand, struggling to deal with an unappetizing lunch of sun-warmed bologna sandwich. Although this kind of memory is always good for a laugh afterward,it is not my idea of a nice time and I would never expect my guests to go through such an ordeal. The children end up cranky and crying and often the adults do too. This is not my idea of a picnic at all.

This being said, I do love a picnic in the French style, which of course, means comfort, comfort, and more comfort. First of all, a French person is simply not going to eat on the ground. Although we might lounge around on a blanket later, it is much better to eat sitting up. When you see a French family having their picnic lunch, they will be at a table -- either a permanent one or a folding model that they have brought with them -- or they will be sitting together on a bench. The food will be appealing but not too elaborate, and you will see right away that the people are taking their time to talk to each other while they eat. If they have packed their picnic at home, you can be sure that there will be proper glasses, silverware, and plates. There will be no crankiness and no crying. I have very fond memories of picnics like this.

Joie de Vivre: Simple French Style for Everyday Living

Definitely there is a whole lot to be said for "comfort, comfort, and more comfort." I believe I could become much more fond of a picnic in this style ... although I am not giving up my paper plates and plastic cups for anyone. They are plenty comfortable enough if you buy decent ones.

What Is It With Butter Carving?

I thought it was just something kooky that was a U.S. tradition as some state fairs ... this sculpture is being done for the 2005 Texas State Fair.



But evidently not ... this was done for an event in New Zealand (via Slashfood).

Classic Lasagna

This recipe is from the magazine Fine Cooking. The best thing about it is that it makes A LOT under the theory that if you are making one lasagne it is very little trouble to go ahead and make three in just about the same amount of time. Then you can freeze two lasagnas for later. And they are right.

Best of all the sauce recipe is killer. If you want to make it for separate use, such as for spaghetti, just simmer it for an hour, stirring frequently, instead of the shorter time called for below. It's designed to leave it watery so the instant noodles have enough moisture when cooking the lasagna.

Step 1:
2 pounds sweet Italian sausage
Brown meat, breaking into small pieces. Remove, chop small and reserve.

Step 2:
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 cloves, peeled, crushed garlic
2 large onions, finely chopped
Add oil and garlic and heat over medium-high heat until garlic just begins to turn light brown, about 5 minutes. Remove and discard, leaving oil in pot. Add onions and cook until translucent, 5-6 minutes.

Step 3:
1-1/2 cups dry red wine
Return sausage to pot. Add wine and cook until reduced by at least half, about 10 minutes.

Step 4:
4 28-ounce cans (or three 35-ounce) crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons oregano
2 teaspoons basil
2 teaspoons thyme
2 teaspoons rosemary
1 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon sugar
Add crushed tomatoes and stir in spices and sugar. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook to blend and develop flavors, about 30 minutes. Sauce will be a little watery to work with lasagne noodles. If using just as sauce, slowly cook down longer to reduce more, about an hour.

Step 5:
3 large eggs
2 ounces grated Parmesan
32 ounces part-skim ricotta
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat eggs and add Parmesan. Beat in ricotta. Season with salt and pepper.

Step 6:
2-1/2 pounds sliced skim mozzarella
1 pound instant (no-boil) lasagne noodles
Heat oven to 400°. To make 3 lasagne of 4 layers each, lightly oil three 8x8” pans. In each pan make layers as follows (important note: the noodles must always have a complete covering of sauce or they will not soften):

1. Cover the bottom pan lightly with some of the sauce.
2. Lay down a layer of pasta.
3. Spread enough ricotta on pasta to cover (about ½ cup).
4. Spread enough sauce to cover completely (about ½ cup).
5. Pasta.
6. Sauce.
7. Mozzarella to cover.
8. Ricotta to cover.
9. Sauce.
10. Make two more layers in that order: pasta, sauce, mozzarella, ricotta, sauce.
11. Finish with: pasta, sauce, mozzarella, light layer of sauce.

Seal pans with tented foil and put on foil-lined baking sheets to catch drips. Bake until edges are bubbling and a knife inserted into the center comes out very hot, 40-50 minutes. Let sit 15 minutes before serving or cool completely on a rack before freezing. Defrost frozen lasagna overnight in the refrigerator and then bake at 400° for about 1 hour.

Cook's Alphabet: F is for Funistrada

A rare example of a 'ghost food', recorded by Bryson (1991). 'The U.S. Army in 1974 devised a food called funistrada as a test word during a survey of soldiers' dietary preferences. Although no such food existed,funistrada ranked higher in the survey than lima beans and eggplant.'

The Penguin Companion to Food

Which just goes to show how much people hate lima beans and eggplant. What do you suppose they thought it was? Funistrada sounds Italian somehow. Perhaps something like lasagna?