Last Minute

Just in case you still need a last-minute gift, here are a few ideas: Donate to the Heifer Foundation and help a family in need build self-sufficiency and better health. (A flock of ducks is still just twenty bucks! Not only that, but you can print a card for the honoree right on the site.)

Drop off some unneeded coats today at a One Warm Coat location.

Food banks across the country are running out of food; find one at Feeding America, or make a donation to the bin at the grocery store. Every dollar donated to Feeding America helps buy 20 pounds of food for hungry families. (Whole Foods and Sunshine Market have bins set up here in the valley.)

Drop off toys for Toys for Tots.

Contribute to your local public television or radio station.

Check out charities at Sixdegrees.org, where you can get a "Good Card". You choose the amount, the gift recipient chooses the charity.

Here it Comes Again

Even though intellectually I've committed to paring down this year, as so many of our friends have, it feels just as hectic. Yes, I'll be buying fewer, and less expensive, presents, but I still have to locate the things and wrap them. Smaller presents take just as much time, if not more, to wrap. And price, high or low, does nothing to assuage the guilt of trying to locate presents with meaning, presents that are Special.

Once, when Mike and I were going through a particularly rough patch in our marriage a few years ago, I was zombie-walking through Cost Plus, late at night, just about this time of year, looking for that final, special, meaningful present. I came across a rack of heart-shaped Christmas tree ornaments, painted gold. I picked through them meticulously, until I found one with the right sheen, the right proportions, to carry the weight of the symbolic gesture I was attempting to make.

I stood in a long, long line, the heavy shopping basket making deep reddish indentations in the crook of my arm. As I reached the front of the line and the bleary-eyed cashier began to ring my order, I spotted a flaw in the heart's finish. Just a little nick, in the back. In those few seconds, I agonized over whether to mention it, or to forget about it and just get on with it.

But I couldn't give a flawed heart. It just had to be perfect. So much depended on it. In the time I'd waited, this heart had become laden with all of the meaning and hope that had gathered like a storm cloud over me in the preceding months. So everyone in line waited while I ran back to grab another one, quickly scanning through the hearts I'd previously rejected. I was back before she'd finished ringing the... whatever the hell else I bought that year and gave away, never to be seen or remembered again, so in the scheme of things, I suppose it wasn't a big deal to anyone else.

But it was a huge deal. For me, at that moment, everything depended on the perfection of that golden heart. So many times, this is what it comes down to for me: a present begins to symbolize the entire relationship, and I find myself standing in some store at half-past nine on a weeknight,, my eyes dried to eggshell from all the mall air, holding some aubergine cashmere shawl, or minuscule jeweled penguin, or whatever, in my hand, wondering if this thing will be a thing that the receiver recognizes as truly special. As meaningful as I, at that moment, am feeling that it is. If I walk away from that one perfect, destined to be misunderstood thing, the guilt hits me immediately. I cannot leave these things behind. Which is why I must Christmas shop very quickly, and with a list. If possible, I need to finish early, before the guilt of not finding the perfect, most meaningful present drives me to go out and seek it all over again.

I don't even want to talk about the emotional weight of handmade gifts, whether they are imagined and made imperfectly or imagined and never completed. I'd need to pay you by the hour.

(There would be a picture here of that heart, which I still hold in my hands for a few extra seconds before I put it on the tree each year, but for some reason, every time I click the "add picture" icon, the "save now" button is activated, and I don't get an opportunity to add my picture-- ever.)

This is just another in a long, long string of frustrations starting with satellite internet (hughes sucks), and ending, for the moment, with the discovery of the AT&T data card, which doesn't suck yet unless it is the cause of my not being able to add pictures. The good news is, I am back on line.

*****
If you're not sure what to make for dinner, try lentil soup: dice some mirepoix vegetables (carrot, celery, onion) and saute with thyme. Meanwhile, put a cup or so of lentils, rinsed, in a saucepan and boil in water or stock until tender (about 30 minutes). If you have some on hand and like it, dice up some ham, chicken or turkey and add to the vegetables. Likewise with chard or other greens. I used some beet greens, and added a pinch of oregano, pepper flake and nutmeg. When the lentils are tender, throw in the contents of the saute pan, and then season to taste with sea salt or Better than Bouillon. Cook together for as little as 0 minutes or as much as a day, serve with sourdough or levain bread brushed with garlic butter.

More soon, my friends.

(Anyone else see "Pumpkin Dump Cake" in the google ads at the right? What the hell is that?)

The Pies that Bind

Images from TG at Monty and Emilio's. Pies not pictured. Thanks for the shots, E!

On Thursday morning, after a little bit of a sleep-in, coffee, reading and breakfast, I started my pumpkin pies. Friends of ours host a gorgeous (see above) and mind-blowingly delicious holiday dinner, and this year I was allowed to bring the pumpkin pie, which I very much looked forward to doing. But I would have made the pie anyway.

My mother's pumpkin pie is a Thanksgiving must-have. Mom's pie was one of the few things that I ever remember my grandmother praising about her cooking. Creamy and light, sweet, but not too sweet, with a flaky, savory crust that contrasts with the smooth center. (I took a pumpkin pie made earlier in the week up to my grandparents on Tuesday, only to find that their freezer had been stocked up with homemade apple pies by one of their caregivers. Pie for weeks!)

There have been many things I have gone without from one Thanksgiving to the next, but Mom's pie is never one of them. The secret to her "secret" pie recipe is the very hot water added to the pie filling just before pouring into the crust, which makes the pie light as it steams away during baking.

I thought of my mother as I spun the flour, salt, shortening and butter in the food processor. (Which she always did by hand, but I had six crusts to make.) I thought of her as I rolled out the dough with her rolling pin, one of a handful of things I took with me when I left home. I thought of her especially as I shaped the edges of the pie with my fingers and thumb, about the way her thumbs bend back a little bit more than the average person's, making a little flourish to her gestures and her crusts, and how she always manages to execute a smooth and perfectly fluted pie edge.

Contact with Mom has been sparse lately. She has her hands full with family in Modesto. But the current was running strong between us Thursday morning, whether she knew it or not.

Just before I took the dogs out for their walks mid-day, I checked my email and found a sweet note from my friend Kristin in Eugene, Oregon, letting me know she was thinking of me, too, as her pumpkin pie, made from Mom's "secret" recipe, was baking, filling their house with cinnamon and spice. It made me smile to think of us smelling the same things, sitting in our kitchens, so many miles away.

All of my Thanksgiving recipes can be found at this link. And here are several pie crust variations: Butter Crust, The Very Best Crust, and Mom's Classic Crust. I recommend the classic for pumpkin pie because there is no sugar and it doesn't over-brown. The Very Best is good for everything else. I'll be using that for an apple pie on Sunday with the just-picked Granny Smiths Grandma gave me. The All Butter, minus the sugar, makes a decadent turkey pot pie for the weekend after the holiday. Don't forget the frozen peas.

Love,
Tam

PS- the lack of photos and posts lately has been largely due to the fact that Hughes satellite service has dragged to a creeping, dial-up style halt. If you can avoid Hughes, I recommend that you do so. Their customer service is so pathetic, and so very, very far away, that it is easier to bring a magazine to the desk to read while waiting for pictures to upload than to spend four hours on the phone in order to complain about it. But it has started to cramp my style.

They are the only game in my little wooded valley, so until someone runs a line or puts up a new tower, I'm stuck with them. Should be upgrading to their second satellite soon. I know that I've promised some of you that I would get kid pictures out there for you to print, but I'm going to have to give you a disk instead, because it just isn't going to happen through Hughes.

Pixie's Big Adventure

Pixie and I went on a trial visit up to Lake Tahoe to see my grandparents this week. We stayed at the dog-friendly Montbleu Casino, (formerly Caesar's Tahoe). Pluses: jacuzzi tub, tons of down pillows, dogs, cats and birds welcome. Minuses: 8th floor pet wing rather far from semi-dark doggie park area, maids vacuuming and having a conversation down the hall at 11 pm, $35 extra pet fee.

Pixie still had a terrific time, especially sleeping on the bed and sitting in Grandpa's lap. I think next time Mike and I will go up and scout the location first to make sure there isn't a semi-dark midnight hike involved, and then Pixie will get to go up again for a visit. Tugboat's legs aren't up to the drive, but luckily, he loves his doggie hotels here in town.

When we arrived, Grandma was practicing her dexterity exercises, and proudly demonstrated her ability to put on and take off a pair of fitted wool gloves. We all had a very nice meatloaf dinner together, as well as coffee and breakfast the next morning.

He SAID I could get up here.

Kiss, kiss, snorgle, snorgle.

Why don't you go and get us some snacks? I'll be right here.

Hot tub, anyone?

Beats the heck out of the Motel 8!

Sunday Morning

I realize that this is only the second post since the election. I've been catching up with friends since then, and as I talk with or email each person, I'm sweetly surprised by the reaction to our new president. Still processing. So relieved.

While bloghopping over the weekend, I stopped off at Orangette and somehow wound up in the archives, wrapped around this lovely post about popovers. So this morning, I got up and made some. Here is the recipe I use, from my mother's red-checkered cookbook. Mom used to make these quite often. The ingredients are simple and usually on hand, and the directions are few. These are yummy piping hot out of the oven for breakfast, with Grandma's strawberry jam and scrambled eggs. (Not on the same popover.) 35 to 40 minutes seems like a long time, but if you set a timer and have something else to do, like drink a cup of coffee and read, or catch up on emails while you let someone else sleep in, it's nothing.

Popovers
1 1/2 tsp shortening (try Spectrum Organic vegetable shortening)
2 eggs, beaten
1 c milk
1 T cooking oil (olive is fine)
1 C flour
pinch salt

Tools
Muffin tin or preferably a deep popover tin
Whisk
Bowl

Method
Preheat oven to 450. Grease a muffin tin or popover tin with the shortening. Preheat pan with oven. Beat eggs, add liquids. Sprinkle in flour, beat until smooth.

Divide evenly in muffin or popover tin, no more than 2/3 full.
Bake at 450 for 20 minutes, reduce heat to 350 and bake for 15-20 minutes more

Adding herbs and finely grated parmesan cheese to these makes a tasty, savory accompaniment to breakfast or dinner. The more cheese you add, the less puffy they'll be. The Orangette recipe is a little more involved. PS- All of my popovers were mile-high with great big perfect bubbly hollows inside EXCEPT the one I saved to photograph.

HBTY

I Voted

No matter which president we wake up with tomorrow, the world always needs a good peanut butter cookie recipe. I looked for one for years, and then tasted the perfect cookie at the restaurant where I worked. Luckily, the young pastry chef was nice enough to share it with me.

This one is truly the best peanut butter cookie you have ever had. The recipe is scaled down for a couple of people plus sharing at work the next day, because most people don't want to make 8 dozen cookies. We refer to it as "Cookies Dammit" because I once sent it to my friend Karen after forgetting to send it for a long time, and that was the title of the email.

I took the picture at the top on my way home from work last night.
V I S U A L I Z E P R E S I D E N T O B A M A

For a refresher course on the Electoral College and how the election process actually works, here is the Wikipedia entry about it. Especially interesting is the the fact that there have only been three times that a candidate has won the popular vote and not received all the votes in the electoral college: twice in the 1800s, and then not again until...2000.

Cookies Dammit- Small Recipe

1 stick butter- room temp if possible
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar (use less if you like)
1 egg
1 1/8 cup peanut butter, preferably natural and chunky
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup cake or AP flour
extra 1/8 cup granulated sugar for marking

Method
Cream butter and sugars in a stand mixer or with a fork and a strong arm. (Definitely warm your butter if you are doing this by hand.)

Mix dry ingredients together in separate bowl.

When sugars are thoroughly blended with butter, add egg and vanilla. When thoroughly blended, add peanut butter.

Mix dry ingredients into bowl, just until combined.

Use two teaspoons to form cookies into roundish lumps on parchment-lined cookie sheet. Use a fork dipped in sugar to mark the classic "waffle-stomper" pattern in the cookies. Bake for ten to twelve minutes at 375 degrees, remove to racks to cool completely before placing on a plate. Best slightly underdone.

Options: Form with a small melon or ice-cream scoop for pretty, evenly round cookies. Leave the lumps as lumps and press a Hershey's kiss in the middle of each cookie. Or press a sugared thumb in the middle of each and add a teaspoon of strawberry jam for peanut-butter-and-jellies.

"...mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guard for their future security."

Thomas Jefferson, from the Declaration of Independence

Go Here, Read This

McCain campaign persists in repeating false accusations about Democratic tax plan.

This is Just Wrong

Ok, these costumes for babies from Martha Stewart start out promising, with the little goldfishy in a tub, but the babies dressed as food are just weird.

This piece is definitely one of those "what is Martha thinking?" moments. You can imagine her hard marble-y syllables rolling adoringly through the descriptions of these weird costumes while the people around her smile tensely and give each other the "Can she possibly be serious?" look behind her back. Love the Spider Baby, though. If you could incorporate the black socks into a baby carrier, you could have a costume with or without the baby.(Father Ted reference here.)

Soup and Risotto

May I direct your attention to the Parsnip-Cauliflower-Leek Soup, whose link can also be found at the right. This soup is so simple to make, and so deceptively delicious, you should put it on your list to try. You don't even have to like cauliflower. The parsnips are what really make it.

And, of course, I don't stick to the quantities that are listed. I had one very big leek, two parsnips, and one cauliflower, so that's what went in it. I had chicken stock, so that went in instead of water. Everything else was pretty much the same. Damn good with buttered crusty sour bread and butter. Be sure to puree. I had it for lunch again today, too.

Turnips also appeared this week. Some beautiful Scarlet Beauties again. Cooked up in a little stock with their chopped greens and a pinch of sugar, they were so delicious-- even the next day-- they could have made their own soup.

It doesn't appear that I've mentioned risotto in my posts, which is unfortunate, but which will soon be rectified. I learned to make risotto on the line at Tra Vigne, while Michael Chiarello was still the chef. During my week in the kitchen for manager training, I dressed in whites and was to observe the workings of the "back of the house".

While on the hot side, on sautee, as they call it (as opposed to grill), we had a pretty busy lunch. The line cook ran me through the steps of making the already par-cooked risotto for each order as it came up. Front of the house manager trainees were expected to remain hands-off in the kitchen, but as the lunch rush heated up, and risotto orders poured in, the line cook began to get busier than he expected. An order of risotto was fired, and I watched the first cook-down. The rice began to bubble dry...

"Permission to stir risotto, sir?" I asked. Permission was granted and for the rest of the lunch it was "Fire risotto!" from him, and "Fire risotto!" back from me as I ladled and stirred each order of risotto*. (Later, my week turned into two weeks when the baker's assistant went to Mexico and didn't come back. If you had biscotti at Tra Vigne that was mysteriously missing its fancy sugar topping, that would have been me.)

Basic risotto recipe

As usual, I am not going to give you quantities. Use the guidelines on your box of risotto rice (Festa per la tavola! A party for your table!) for portions of rice and liquid. Do not try to do this with regular rice. It's not the same. Have an extra container of chicken stock (or vegetable stock) on hand in case you've underestimated. You've got one anyway, right?

Ingredients
olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, finely diced
(no matter how much risotto I make, or how little, I find that I use 1/2 an onion)
short-grain risotto rice
thyme
white wine
chicken stock, simmering in a pan next to your risotto pan
parmesan cheese, grated, about 1/2 to 2/3 cup
salt if necessary

Materials
2 med/large saucepans or one saucepan and one anything else pan to hold stock
wooden spoon
ladle

Method
heat olive oil in a large saucepan over med-high heat
add onion, saute until soft and only slightly golden
add rice, stir into oil and onion to coat
add thyme
listen to the sound of the rice as it hits the sides of the pan when you first pour it in. When it starts to sound tinny and looks slightly translucent and a little golden, and the onions are just barely brown, you are ready for the next step
Pour in just enough wine to barely cover the rice, about 1/2 cup. Cook the rice and wine just until absorbed.
Now you are ready to begin your "cook-downs". It will take 3 or 4 to finish the risotto.
Ladle in 2 to 3 ladles full of warm stock. If I buy stock from the store, sometimes I throw in a celery top or two while it is cooking to give it more flavor.
Stir the risotto constantly until your spoon leaves a dry path at the bottom of the pan. The rice and stock at first will be soupy, and the spoon won't leave a path. As the stock cooks into the rice, the rice will stay parted a little bit, then a lot, when the spoon-- did I mention it has to be a wooden spoon-- passes through.
When this happens, add another 3 ladles of stock and do it again. After the third cook-down, check your rice. It should still taste a little dry in the middle of each grain. Add more stock, and cook until not quite dry and the rice just al dente. The last cook-down should be a little bit slushy, because the liquid will continue to evaporate as it sits. It's ok to put in a little more stock to achieve this. Stir in parmesan, taste, and salt to your taste. I don't recommend salting before adding the cheese, but if you choose not to add the cheese, check it for salt anyway.

A VERY BIG SPIDER IS HUNTING ON THE PILLOW IN THE WINDOWSEAT RIGHT NOW.

I think that's it. Tonight we had risotto made with stock I already had in the freezer, sauteed swiss chard, and roasted Delicata squash. (I love these damn squash!) I have pictures for you, but at the moment, Lightroom is not cooperating to release my pictures, so I'll post them tomorrow.

Roasted Delicata Squash

This is a basic method that works for pretty much any fall/winter squash except spaghetti squash. You can just keep that.

Halve and seed squash. Sometimes a bread knife helps in the sawing, or a very sharp pointy knife. Keep the squash on a flat surface for stability.

Each cleaned squash half gets placed face-up on a foil-lined cookie sheet (face down is ok for the first half of cooking if you want to do it that way, just oil it first with olive oil so it doesn't stick). If you're cooking face up, give each one a sprinkle of salt and pepper, a dab of butter, a sprinkle of brown sugar and a sprig of sage. Bake at 350 until soft and sweet. If you like, you can baste the tops with the melted butter/sugar as they bake. If you've started out upside down, flip them at some point and add the goodies.

Yum. Again, pictures will be coming.

*If you ever go to Tra Vigne, and you sit on the left side of the long bar that flanks one wall, there is a small black and white picture of Peter Lorre nestled among the colorful bottles. That is Il Santo di Risotto: The Saint of Risotto. One of the first sous-chefs at Tra Vigne resembled Peter Lorre, and he was the one who discovered just the right method of par-cooking the rice so that each and every order of risotto-- cooked from scratch to order-- wouldn't take 30 minutes. This was a very important revelation, learned the hard way by the patrons, waiters and cooks who worked that first opening month. Thus, he is a saint.

Just the Right Size Batch of Oatmeal Cookies

Just the Right Size Batch of Oatmeal Cookies
10 minutes max to prep using a stand mixer, 20-30 minutes to bake

Ingredients
1 stick butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 tblsp molasses

1 1/4 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup slivered raw almonds
1/2-1 cup raisins
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter (room temp if possible) with sugars until light and fluffy or well-mixed (if your butter is cold). Add egg, molasses and vanilla, mix again thoroughly. Mix together dry ingredients in a separate bowl, add slowly to wet ingredients. Once combined, add oats, nuts and raisins, mix until just combined.
Using two teaspoons, drop onto parchment-lined baking sheet (press down with spoons to flatten slightly). Bake +/- 10 minutes, cool on rack completely before moving to a plate.
Tasty, chewy, molasses-y, not too sweet, and full of oats and nuts that aren't so bad for you.

Scary

Am I the only one that finds this whole TV appearance weeks before the election thing really surreal? It's like a scary movie about the future, where we all vote with remote controls for imaginary political candidates on television screens built into the backs of other people's heads.

Presidents and celebrities are not the same. Tina Fey doing Sarah Palin is scarily funny. Sarah Palin head-bobbing on TV to a fake rap song is a little sickening. (Amy Poehler singing it while hugely pregnant, surrounded by faux-eskimos and a stuffed moose only very slightly redeeming. Poor Amy!)

Sarah Palin is beautiful, ok, but she's not auditioning for America's Next Top Model, she's running for VICE PRESIDENT. Is this what it's come to? When the lines blur so strongly (Reagan flashback) between celebrity and reality that we are in danger of electing someone who is a caricature, running with someone who is pretty, over thoughtful, intelligent men... well, I just don't even want to think about it. How about we just elect Tom and Katie?

Read this. And this. And this. And this.

It seems every sound clip I hear of McCain lately has him desperately squawking his new mantra: "Kills Jobs! Spreads the wealth! Awk! Kills Jobs! Spreads the wealth!" You'd have to be a moron not to see that he's trying to stoke the most primal fear of loss. At the simplest level, the seed is being planted: "Fear the black man, he is going to take away what you have." The language he's using always contains strong negative associations. Even when he (weakly) defended Obama after he'd been criticized for ignoring the jeers and threats, he said, "...he's not a man you need to be afraid of being president." It doesn't matter that the foundations of his statements about Obama's tax cuts vs. his own aren't true. (I doubt even people making over $250,000 a year are shaking in their boots.) The people he's addressing-- the people who are responding-- believe him. What makes them think that a man who has helped to build the government structures that have created the world they live in today would do anything to change their lives if elected?

OK, OK, OK. This is what happens. I set out to make a simple point about how weird it is that the candidates are smiling and laughing on late night TV in the midst of one of the worst economic crises in the nation's history, and seven paragraphs later, I'm ranting and raving.

VOTE. VOTE. VOTE. Democrats, Liberals, Greens, Independents, Converts, Undecideds, women, men, young people, old people...it's going to take every single one of us to make that margin decisive. Don't give up.

By The Way

I'm not really reading Divisidero by Michael Ondaatje, yet. I've gone back to My Stroke of Insight.
***
Keep a big watering can in your shower and use it to catch the water as you're waiting for it to warm up each day. It also helps to remind you to water your plants. At least it does me. I have one pot on the front porch that always used to get neglected in the scorching summer, now it doesn't.
***
Reduce, reuse, recycle. If you are overwhelmed by the options, try reducing your use of little things, like shampoo, fabric softener, detergent, to see how little will actually do the job. I now use the small scoop from protein powder for detergent, and only one third of a fabric softener. I use a boatload of conditioner, but hardly any shampoo or body soap. No need to deprive yourself, just see what works. It may be a lot less than you think.

***
And while we're on hygiene, it's taken me a year, but I've fully adjusted to organic cotton, applicator-less tampons, which reduce waste and resources used. And I've switched to washable glad rags for night. (More than you need to know, I know, but I felt I should say something.) Mike is using a replaceable blade razor instead of buying packs of disposables.

Ack!

Look! I don't know if you see what I see, but my google ads (which don't add up to anything in terms of income, so they may soon go away) have been McCain-ized! Mine offer me several options of going to McCain sites, seeing pictures of Cindy McCain (like I would), and who knows what other malarkey. Guess what? Ads are paid for by companies and entities and political candidates. I mention Obama just as often as I mention McCain. Does that mean Mr. M is spending more money on Google advertising? Maybe he should have spent it on fact checking research about Colombia.

And don't you think it's a little weird that he and shoot-em-if-ya-got-em Palin are doing appearances on Letterman and SNL before the election? Don't they have better things to do than to yuk it up on TV two and a half weeks before a Presidential election? I haven't heard yet, maybe Obama is doing some similarly lame stunt to try to make people like him before the votes are cast, but I sincerely hope not. Please lord, let Obama win and give Sarah Palin Jerry Springer's job when he's done. I think she'd fit right in. She's going to try to show the world she's a good sport, just like her cheerleading cousin George. Please, please, America, just buy them a beer if you feel sorry for them this time.