My sister in law, Susie, grew a beautiful garden this year and now has the harvested green beans. She sent me this photo showing off her new found talent for canning and pronouncing the production a minor success.
Honestly, she has homegrown, french cut beans canned in tightly sealed jars ready to be enjoyed when the snow flies… I call this a major success.
Looking forward to hearing about the picante sauce she’s going to do next weekend.
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Here are a dozen and a half highlights of 2009:
Organic carrots – cleaned 5lbs at a time. In 2009, our kids discovered vegetables beginning with carrots.
Stock – This year we were quite intentional about regularly making stock and using as the flavor base not only for soup, but also for rice, couscous and even to saute vegetables in a low fat way.
Tortilla soup with homemade tortilla chips – Soup became the staple of the year as we developed favorite flavor profiles.
Ribs – Ken perfected BBQ ribs this year with a savory rub and a long and low process of cooking.
Pizza – He also perfected both crust and topping combinations to the extent that it’s a rarity that we eat carry out pizza.
Salmon Chowder – This soup used both our kitchen made stock and utilized seafood which we had made a commitment to eat more of in 2009.
Roladen – A favorite, reminiscent of our days in Munich. Also one of the most Googled recipes of 2009.
Ice Cream Cake – The temperature on July 8, Madeleine’s birthday, was 104 degrees and thus we decided to have an ice cream cake for her. What a fun new way to celebrate. I’d like to try to make one.
Ox Tail Soup – Another of the most Googled recipes of 2009, however, it was probably one of my biggest culinary disappointments of the year. I had wanted to try ox tail for a very long time and when I came to find out that my maternal grandmother, one of my earliest cooking teachers, made it that desire increased. Well, the soup/stew wasn’t what I expected. Maybe I’ll try again in the new year.
Charlie Trotter – Eating at the Kitchen Table and meeting Charlie himself was an amazing way to celebrate Ken’s dissertation defense and inaugurate the final steps toward his PhD (which he received in May).
Meatballs – One of the funniest food episodes this year is when I made meatballs, and I kept making them, and making them, and rolling them, and preparing them, and making them… 442 in total.
Hot and Spicy Chicken Wings – Mine are the best in the Valley, no, in the world.
Olive Burger – Hungry for an olive burger like the one at the Keyhole Bar in the UP, I tried to re-create one. My version was quite delicious, but still it just wasn’t quite it. Unplanned, our summer vacation included a 2000 mile (each way) road trip to the UP and the Key Hole Bar where I ate the real thing.
The Perfect Steak – Ken’s grilling mastery is off the charts: delicious, juicy, and what beautiful grill marks on the steaks. Likewise, he’s grilled fish, ribs, ratones, and vegetables.
Grilled Cheese – This was Madeleine’s first grilled cheese that she made “all by herself.” Another Madison House Chef is launched.
Blueberry Muffins – 2009 was a year of baking and sharing baked goods. Baking is still one of my favorite ways to relax.
Pork Picnic – We tried and successfully accomplished Pulled Pork!
Bok Choy – This was our new vegetable of the year. While I’d eaten it many times before, I had not ever cooked with it, but now it’s in the regular rotation of vegetable sides.
Looking to 2010 I’m hopeful to do more baking, to explore more vegetables and create new ways to eat them, and to eat at another world class restaurant (maybe in Spain, the UK, or Finland). I look forward to learning to make homemade sausage, finding a great paella recipe, and continuing to catalogue these recipes (and share them) via this Madison House Chef blog.
Happy New Year, 2010 – Enjoy!
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How disappointing.
Today's New York Times reports that Gourmet magazine will publish it's last issue in November. I'll miss the delicious recipes and stunning photography.
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Since the beginning of the school year we've been packing lunches in Japanese bento style. This style is appealing in that it provides portion control (for the adults), provides variety for those in school, taps into creative presentation which in turn prompts eating what's packed, lends itself to sneaking in making available new foods to try, it's a great way to use leftovers encore performance foods, saves on baggies and cling wrap, saves money and is just a lot of fun to eat.
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How exciting to pick up a copy of the NYTimes while getting coffee last week and finding an article about the whitefish that we had thoroughly enjoyed in the UP of Michigan. A couple of places mentioned, including the one way up in the Copper Harbor place are all familiar. For more information about the UP's flaky, moist, rich whitefish enjoy this article:
New York Times article about Whitefish in the UP of Michigan.
"Signs for smoked fish abound outside gas stations and stores on U.S. Highway 2, the Upper Peninsula’s main east-west route, making it one of the area’s best-known specialties. Another is the pasty, a hearty Cornish pie filled with meat, rutabaga and gravy."
I chuckled when I read these true words about gas station and fish signs...and yes, we still have a couple of pasties in the freezer. The article also mentions a place across from the copper mine. This is the very spot, a little white building with a screen door entrance on the side that slams as you walk through, that we bought our first whitefish to cook on our own. We used Jiffy corn bread mix as our coating and fried it in an electric frying pan atop a picnic table at the state park. Lo these many years later, long before our children were born, I can still taste the sweetness of the fish.
Wistfully I think to myself, "It's time again (yes, already) to return to the UP for more fish. If only I had 3 more weeks of vacation. And the first thing I'd do would be to go to our favorite whitefish spot that we pass on the way to Point Iriquois, a restaurant that also sells pieces of smoked fish to go." Mmmm
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A 1224 pound cupcake "took the cake" and won the Guinness World Record for largest cupcake. Not surprisingly, this tasty record was achieved in Michigan. It is reported to contain about 2 million calories. Delicious.
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In September PBS will be airing the first episode of The Winemakers, a reality game show. I'm curious to say the least. Some of these shows become instantly repetitive or bawdy and subsequently are not worth watching. I'm hopeful that PBS's reality show will not be dumbed down like most of the network shows, but will educate as well as entertain. I remember watching much of Frontier House which was generally good and seemed to stay fairly accurate to its history; more than anything else it was not too cheesy. I'm hopeful that Winemakers will follow in the same path.
If it's as contrived as some of the other reality tv shows that little resemble reality then we'll just know that PBS is trying to cut in on Prime Time tv.
ALSO...
Decanter.com tells of a wine documentary spoof called Corked. We, of course, won't get to see it in any art theatre (I'm momentarily missing D.C.), but it will be interesting to read the reviews. The trailer though...looks awful!
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[image from article]
Scott Gold wrote a deliciously hilarious piece, When the Chef is Trying to Kill You, about his eating experience in Portland, OR. He ordered a jelly donut with foie gras, or maybe it's foie gras with a jelly donut. Nevertheless, I'm still debating whether or not I'd order/eat it. I adore donuts and am quite fond of foie gras, but together...?
There's no question about whether or not my husband would eat it. It's a YES!
I would however be very open to the poutine (french fries with cheese and gravy) with foie gras served at Au Pied de Cochon.
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