What the falafel?!

When Lucy and I were in Paris earlier this month (I love saying that) one of the things we wanted to do was eat falafel.  Did you know Paris has some of the best falafel?  Who knew?

We made our way to one highly touted place in Saint Germain Pres, and it was a very crowded little street place so we got in line, sorta, and tried to figure out how to order.  After 5 to 10 minutes of waiting and watching, we were still unsure about how/what to order and decided to make our way to the second place, directly across the narrow little cobblestone street.  GOOD CHOICE.

There were a total of 6 seats in this place, and 2 of those seats became free as we crossed over, so I shooed Lucy into them while I went up to order for us.  I was surprised the one girl manning the place didn't start fixing our order and started to worry that she hadn't understood me.  But, wait....

I saw her walk back to the fryer and check the temp.  Then she opened up a big kind of Tupperware container, grabbed a scoop, and proceeded to make our falafels---fresh.  She scooped up the batter for 8 falafels and dropped them in the fryer.  While they were cooking, she opened up another container, took out a couple of large pitas, and ran them through a toaster/griller thingy.  My mouth started watering.

When our little falafel balls were cooked to a beautiful brown-ness, she plucked them out of the fryer, drained them, and plopped them into our pitas which had been coned and wrapped in paper.  Then she handed them to me and motioned to the two full rows of toppings and condiments I could choose from to customize our sandwiches to perfection.  I wish I could tell you what all we chose---heck, I wish I knew what half of the stuff was.  It was all delicious, and my favorites were some kind of pickled cabbage and the tzatziki.

Was it messy?  Way.  Was it the best falafel I ever ate?  Definitely.  Is that girl drinking cafe creme on a Paris sidewalk the coolest kid ever?  You bet.

The Holy Grail of Balsamic

Long, long ago....
I remember way back in the 80's, reading about balsamic vinegar and wondering what the heck those Silver Palate girls Julie Rosso and Sheila Lukens were talking about, splashing vinegar on strawberries.  Were they crazy?  At some point I hopped on the balsamic bandwagon, with no going back.  Its tart yet rich kind of ooziness makes practically anything just taste better.  Talk about a flavor bump.  I even love white balsamic for my old-time onion and cucumber mix that I keep in the fridge pretty much all summer.

Speaking of making anything taste better....these balsamic onions are absolutely delicious on a burger, grilled/broiled flank or any kind of steak, creamy polenta, and even just on some french bread for a lazy woman's supper.  Hop on the balsamc bandwagon tonight.

Balsamic Onions

Slice two or three red onions in half, then into 1/4 inch rings.   Throw them on your Pampered Chef bar pan with 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, then a good pour of olive oil. Sprinkle with Kosher salt and black pepper.  Roast at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes or until all soft and glistening, and maybe until a few rings start to have a tiny bit of char on them.  Add a few more splashes of balsamic, and serve.  A new addiction.

Your balsamic back-to-school bonus is a picture of Lucy getting ready for the first day of 11th grade.  I think that look of scorn on her face is for my picture-taking, although it could have been for the whole idea of going back to school yesterday.

If you give a mousse some cream

The snow forecast lead all the schools in the area to declare today a snow day well in advance, so yesterday I rushed home to make preparations....er, actually, I rushed home to make mousse. Same thing, right? I went to my neighborhood Italian market to pick up ricotta cheese and whipping cream. Let it snow! First, 2 cups part-skim ricotta with 3 TBSP unsweetened cocoa. My addition, which I highly recommend for a BIG flavor bump, is a bit of espresso powder. Throw these things in the food processor until heavenly smooth. Then scoop out every last morsel with your Pampered Chef scraper and put into a big bowl. Put 2 large egg whites (best if they're at room temp, but I couldn't wait), 1/2 cup sugar (I used less), and a pinch of salt into a glass bowl on top of a little pan of simmering water. (Your bowl shouldn't touch the water---and don't boil the water, just let it simmer.) Whisking the whole time, cook until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is warm---around 3 minutes.

Then, take the glass bowl out and use an electric mixer to beat the egg white mixture until it forms stiff peaks.

To prove they are stiff peaks, hold the bowl upside down over Lucy's head and watch her squirm.

Yep, those are some stiff peaks.

Then FOLD a big dollop of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Ahhhh, folding.....a favorite technique that I could drive into the ground, so will try not to here. If you don't know the technique, google it up and be sure to follow it for best results.

Scoop the mousse into 6 small bowls, like these cute Willow House ramekins my sister sent me. We love ramekins! Now, here comes the hardest part of the recipe: Chill for 3 hours. Harrumph.
When the torturous 3 hours is almost done, drag your daughter into the kitchen to see the delight of whipping real cream (I'm embarrassed that she says she only knows the taste of Cool Whip---really? Granted, we really don't eat much of either at our house, but obviously I've been a most neglectful parent). I taught her the trick of chilling the beaters and stainless steel bowl--I put them in the freezer at the same time I put the mousse in the fridge, a bit of overkill but if I didn't do it then I would forget. Add a couple of tablespoons of confectioners sugar and about 1/2 tsp of vanilla, and let her rip on medium speed for ..... I don't know how long, probably less than 2 minutes, just until decadently soft and luscious. Grab a couple of mousse ramekins out of the fridge, top with big dollops of whipped cream, and sit back and contemplate another snow day.
Here's Lucy eating nachos while waiting for the mousse to chill. Lovely headgear.

Lucy's Roasted Vegetables

Yesterday during a mid-day emergency refresher stop at Starbucks I asked Lucy to name three of her favorite foods. Of course the little high achiever wanted to know how general or specific she should be. After I told her it didn't matter, she named pasta, roasted vegetables, and fruit. Here's what she said about roasted vegetables: "I like the way you do them, but what I really mean is the ones to put on a sandwich." So today I roasted her a bunch of vegs specifically to put on sandwiches this week. I didn't think to take the "before" picture until I had already sliced the eggplant and salted it on paper towels to draw out a lot of the water. The main difference between these and the vegetables I usually roast are how they're cut (these are all done in long, thin slices) and that I used a lot more olive oil than usual.
Eggplant, yellow squash, red and green bell peppers, red onion, and carrots. For Lucy.

Breakfast at our House

Don't you love days when you have time to make and eat a good breakfast? L and I are both breakfast eaters. I've heard her say many times that she can't believe how many kids at school don't eat any breakfast, and how in the world do they make it until lunch? Although I don't do new year's resolutions, I did work last year on going to work later---which had the added benefit of giving me time to make a more substantial breakfast many days. I like the idea of my little baby girl (don't tell her I said that) running off to the bus with a full tummy. And since I've become a whole wheat pita nut, nothing is easier than throwing an egg inside along with some lettuce and tomatoes and whatever else---but always with a good shake of Cavendar's Greek Seasoning. Today's filling was chopped up Morningstar Farms "sausage" patties and fried eggs, mixed up with lots and lots of Dijon and Spicy Brown mustard. We each had a clementine with it.

You know what they say: The most important meal of the day.

A Very Cherry New York Christmas

We bought these beautiful cherries on the street in Chinatown last night, after dinner at Joe's Shanghai.
Lucy realized at dinner that she was wearing a lot of pink, for her.
We wish you all were here with us....

...but we would have had to wait even longer for a table.

A visit to "The Tree" at Rockefeller Plaza on the way to see an excellent play at Lincoln Center (with Stockard Channing, Stacy Keach, and Linda Lavin---Lucy didn't even come close to falling asleep!) all made for a very New York Christmas.

The Time Warner Building, Bank of America Tower, and of course the swanky stores on Madison and 5th are all decorated beautifully. And although most of the theatres were dark for Christmas, there were still tons of people in a very cold Times Square at 11 pm---what's that about?

Today we're snuggling in---Lucy with her iPad and me with two new cookbooks I can't wait to devour and tell you more about---amidst two-day blizzard warnings, with the snow slated to start at noon and add 30- to 40- mile winds this evening.

Tonight is supposed to be Lucy's "Red Carpet" affair in Manhattan but it looks like Mother Nature may have other plans for all those 16-year-olds. Happy Boxing Day!

A Happy Christmas

MaMere--we did good!

Wake up, morning glory

Somehow she doesn't look quite ready for her 9 am mani/pedi. Trust me, it will be a different story tomorrow morning....Lucy is the notorioiusly early riser on Christmas morning. I used to have to send her back to bed when she would come running in to physically lift my eyelids up before 5 am. The teenage sleep years have helped that situation a bit, as I think last year it was closer to 7:30 am. OK, off for some pre-Christmas pampering for us. May your day be merry and bright!

A New Do

Here's Lucy Saturday after getting her "Asian layered bob" haircut, but before getting her brows waxed at Elizabeth Arden The Red Door. Cute, huh?

Where there's a will, there's ..... applesauce!

Don't you hate it when you think you have an ingredient, so you don't buy it while you're at the store, then when it's time to make your recipe you don't have it after all. Harrumph. Makes me want to do a Rumpelstiltskin and stomp my feet so hard. But, wait, happy ending after all, just like all those scary, weird fairy tales.

I wanted to make oatmeal muffins with shredded carrots---one of I'm sure a gazillion variations you could make with that oatmeal muffin recipe. But, alas, no applesauce. Too danged hot to think about going back to the store....lots of gala apples and one granny smith in the crisper....hmmmmm, I'll just make a little applesauce. I cored and cut up 2 gala's and 1 granny smith (I didn't peel them cuz I like the peel) into a heavy pot; added 1 TBSP sugar; about 1/2 cup water; tiny pinch of salt; put the lid on and cooked over medium heat for about 15 minutes, just until the apples broke down. I stirred with a wooden spoon a few times while it cooked. After it was done it was still too chunky to put in the muffins, so I used my handy-dandyPampered Chef Mix 'n Masher (the black stick thing in the picture) to mash it up in the pan. This is the little tool that Libby swears every parent must have as soon as a toddler starts to eat any table food----works like a charm, even though it's actually made to break up ground meat when you're browning it.

After I made the muffins I still had more than a cup of applesauce left, so of course I tasted it as I was putting it away. WOW! I forgot how good homemade chunky applesauce tastes, and how satisfying it is to take the 20 minutes to make it. I used to make this for Lucy when she was little, and as soon as I took the taste it made me remember how making that applesauce for her made me feel like I was the best mom in the world. I mean, even though I didn't have a clue of how to be a parent and still don't, anyone who would make homemade applesauce for their child couldn't be all bad, right? Heck, I saw Diane Keaton in Baby Boom at least ten times.

If you're making this for a brand new eater, you'll want to peel the apples and mash it up really good after it cooks, or even puree it. But for a sweet little three-year-old who is so precious and whose Tia misses him so much she can't stand it (but I digress, sorry) chunky applesauce made by his very own mama in 20 minutes will just reinforce that she's the very best mama and he's the very best big brother in the whole world.

Here's a real recipe in case you want to make a bigger batch, from America's Test Kitchen's Family Cookbook.

Old-Fashioned Applesauce

4 pounds Jonagold, Pink Lady, Jonathan, or Macoun apples (8 to 12) cored and cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks

1 cup water, plus extra as needed

1/4 cup sugar, plus extra for seasoning

Pinch salt

1. Combine all ingredients in a large Dutch oven. Cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the apples begin to break down, 15 to 20 minutes.

2. Process the cooked apples through a food mill fitted with a medium disk. (Susan's note: huh?) Season with extra sugar or add water to adjust the consistency as needed. Serve warm or cool to room temperature, about 1 hour. Can be refrigerated for up to 1 week.

Susan's note: Just like with apple pies, I recommend that you use a mix of two different kinds of apples when you make this applesauce.

p.s. The muffins turned out really yummy, with 1/2 cup of applesauce and 1+ cup of shredded carrots. Oops, I forgot to add any sugar! Oh, well, they still taste good---all the better if no added sugar.

What's that orange stuff?

I was way too tired to even think about dinner tonight, much less cook it, so I charged my minion with rustling us up some grub. After a minute of obligatory grumbling ("Oh, you mean I need to fix something for YOU, too? Cause I was just gonna eat cereal.") she did her usual vegweb search and found this recipe that we both loved. It's amazing how much flavor a touch of olive oil, garlic, and red onion can impart. This recipe as shown is probably only one serving. The carrot ribbons make a perfect "pasta." We topped lightly with marinara; don't use too much sauce so the other flavors come through.

Carrot Spaghetti


3 medium carrots
2 small cloves garlic
1/4 of an onion, diced (optional)
3 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup of your favorite pasta sauce

Directions:

Wash the carrots well, especially if they are not organic. With a vegetable peeler, peel the carrots into long thing strips and sprinkle with salt. Finely dice the garlic and onion (if desired).

Coat the bottom of a large pan with the olive oil and heat on medium-high heat. When hot, add the carrots. Toss frequently (this works well with tongs). When the carrots start to soften, add the garlic and pepper (add onion here too if you like). Keep tossing for a couple of minutes until some of the carrots get brown around the edges (don't burn!) and the garlic is golden.

Serve with your favorite pasta sauce (tomato based, I really can't vouch for alfredo or other fancy sauces).

The nice thing is that it can be twirled with a fork the same way as regular pasta!

What Goes Around

Ten years ago I moved from New York to Texas. When the moving truck was about three-quarters loaded I realized that 1) some things were maybe not going to fit, and 2) I would pay dearly for every ounce over whatever the moving company's estimate had been. And you know how on moving day you finally reach a point where you just don't care anymore? It's all too much by that time. When I reached that point, I called my friend Arlene and told her I was leaving some things in my apartment, and that she should come see if she wanted anything. Then I went off to the airport, where Lucy sat in the middle of the floor and peed---if anybody ever tries to tell you moving isn't stressful for grownups and kids, just send them to me to be set straight. Seven years later when I moved back to New York (yes, I'm a slow learner) Arlene, who had herself moved to Connecticut by then, pointed out a nice butcher block table in her garage: the very one I had left seven years earlier. Husband Artie (known as Saint Arthur for some reason I'm sure I don't understand by all who know Arlene) had sanded the top and it looked GOOD. Today, the second hottest day of the year so far at only 100 degrees, Arlene shows up at work with the table in the back of her beautiful new Hyundai. She and I unloaded it from the car, and then Lucy and I dragged it up the stairs, and now we have extra work space and extra storage in our big kitchen. And you get to see Arlene and her sweet grandkids, Caitlin and Jake. Thanks a bunch, 'Lene.

A Titanium Spork

Since I know you've been wondering for ever so long, please be advised that Lucy definitely intends to bring a titanium spork in her pack when she hikes the Appalachian Trail in a few years. Whew, aren't you glad to have that little detail worked out? My friend Kay Killgore did half of the AT, from Maine to West Virginia, when we were in our 20's (or, hell, maybe it was our 30's; those decades are all a blur now; the only thing I'm ever sure of is if it was B.L. or A.L). It took me several years of asking Kay questions about it to get that she really, truly did that. Seriously. A little difficult for a slug of my ilk to take in. But, once I looked at a map and saw what she did and heard enough answers to my dumb questions, I was in awe of her accomplishment. I still don't understand the how (I mean, it takes months...of walking, carrying everything you need on your back, sleeping outside...animals....heat....cold...) but I get the why for certain people---people like Kay, and maybe my very own Lucy. Mostly I shake my head in amazement. And then I grin.

(The back packing photo is Lucy on a 5-day hike last year in Vermont during Farm & Wilderness Camp. All camp and hiking supplies courtesy of MaMere & Poppy.)