Hors d'oeuvres for 4 or 40?!?

It's no secret that I have no idea how to cook for two - or four, for that matter! I think it's a combination of being raised in a large family, cooking professionally for so many years, and - probably more significantly - I'm just neurotic about running out of food!

Which brings me to last night... Our dear friends David and Linda were over last night. They only live an hour away, but we seem to only see each other twice a year - once at Christmas - our house - and once in July - their house. We chat on the phone, email, etc., but never really seem to find the time to get together more often. Dumb.

We decided that since we all love hors d'oeuvres - and since we usually fill up on hors d'oeuvres before dinner - we would just do a meal of hors d'oeuvres! An endless supply of small, tasty foods. Tim Tapas. Dineen Dim Sum. Lots of finger foods! I had a slight plan formulating in my mind for what to serve, but it all came together while shopping.

David loves little cocktail weenies, but Linda never buys them, so... #1 was

**Cocktail Weenies in a honey mustard sauce. (1/2 cup Bone Suckin' Mustard and 1/2 cup honey.)
**BBQ Meatballs - Small meaballs glazed in BBQ Sauce.
**Gorgonzola Torte - store bought from TJ's
**Shrimp in garlic butter and parsley - Rock shrimp sauteed in butter and LOTS of garlic and a handful of chopped parsley thrown in at the last minute.
**Baked Brie with apricots and almonds - Brie covered in Apricot Sauce with almonds
**Paper wrapped chicken although this time around, I used chix breasts, chopped almonds, soy sauce, sesame oil, and green onions - a quick version, because it was a spur-of-the-moment-I-don't-have-enough-food addition.
**8-bone rack of lamb - the little chops make a perfect hors d'oeuvre!
**Lox on pumpernickel with a dill cream cheese and caramalized red onion - Whipped cream cheese with dill, worcester sauce, and a pinch of garlic spread on the bread, topped with lox, and then topped with caramalized red onions (once available at TJ's - I bought 10 jars when I found out they were being discontinued!)
**Pork sausage with cherries and maple syrup, mushrooms and leeks in puff pastry REALLY Easy - and yummy!!

And for dessert...

**Profiteroles with fudge sauce - soooo easy to make!! and...

LOTS **cookies and candy.

Needless to say, we had LOTS of food - and just enough leftovers for lunch today! (For four, but we're growing boys - we'll eat it all!)

The only time I really thought about taking pictures was when I was frying the paper Wrapped Chicken - and I couldn't run out of the room to get the camera, with boiling oil on the stove!

I really do have to think about pictures more.....


Aunt Dolores' Rum Balls

 

I FINALLY got the Rum Balls made! These are by far the best Rum Balls this side of heaven! While Auntie's original recipe called for rolling in powdered sugar, a few years ago, we started dipping them in chocolate to create a rum ball truffle. They are worth every calorie and/or DUI you may get!

This is her original recipe. Even though I have it memorized, I bring it out every time I make them and ask her for help in making sure they come out right. She hasn't failed me, yet! I use Meyers Rum.

Thanks, Auntie!!


Cookies and Lost Christmas Presents

Once upon a time - before I worked in retail - the cookie baking was very organized. That was then, this is now... It's December 21st, and we're ALMOST finished. This is the latest we've ever been still baking cookies! Oh well... It keeps me off the streets...

A few misshaps, like the whole tray of walnut cookies that broke, but since we always eat the mistakes, anyway, it has a happy ending!


We have been rolling and cutting, filling and dipping whenever a spare moment arrived - and there haven't been enough of them!

Today I make the Amaretti and Aunt Dolores' Rum Balls, and then start dipping and decorating in earnest.

And while all of this was going on, we had another panic going on in the house. We lost a present!! Now, we have a bit of a reputation for opening presents early. We go to Victor's sister's for Christmas, and we don't want to lug everything up there, so... we open early. Okay... there is a REASON to open presents early... One can LOSE them if one doesn't!

Bowing to peer pressure, we decided NOT to open Victor's Secret Santa present early. What a mistake. Three days of panic have ensued. Simply put... we put the presents under the tree with our gifts and things we had to mail out. We were being good little boys. We packed up all the stuff to mail out - and then noticed the small present from Victor's fabulous and wonderful Secret Santa was missing! Can we say "Panic" boys and girls?!?

What to do... What to do?!? We thought for sure it had gotten into a box headed west! Oh my gawd! What if it was like a sex toy sent to my father?!? (Well - he could probably use one, but I digress...) A lost present is like one of the worst things in the world. We felt like shit.

Early this morning we took one more look for it - AND WE FOUND IT!!! It was UNDER the tree skirt!!!

We were so excited we opened them!

It's an "A Christmas Story" lamp and a really cool ashtray from "All Things Sicilian." Life is good!


Cooking, Baking, Work, and Christmas

Oy vey, it's been busy! It seems I've been spending an inordinate amount of time running around, but have I really accomplished anything?!? When I stop and think, I guess I've done a lot - but there just seems like so much more to do....

I got presents and packages in the mail (THREE trips to the post office!!!), presents wrapped and under the tree... more cookie dough made... shovelled snow... and dinner every night...

Victor was back in San Francisco for 3 days, so the culinary offerings at home were a bit stark. I just don't feel like making wonderful meals just for myself. Chili burgers with lots of cheese suffice! (I was on a hot dog kick for quite a while, but I can't always find good, old-fashioned, skin-on hot dogs around here!)

I did make a pretty good pot roast Wednesday that was dinner two nights in a row. There's still a bit more in the 'fridge.

The major cookie-baking day will be tomorrow... We are soooooo behind. Oh well. On the other hand, what's Christmas without a few panic attacks?!? ;-)

Off to work...


Making Cookie Dough!

Well... I've gotten about six different doughs in the fridge right now... I started off with a Hazelnut Thumbprint yesterday. It was a bit of an experiment... I used the Walnut Butter Cookie Recipe, but changed the nut to hazelnut and used a Madeira Creme flavoring I bought at Fante's in South Philly a while back. If you've never been to Fante's, think FUN kitchen store with everything you've ever wanted in your life - at affordable prices! It's a South Philly institution and we head down there whenever we can. I love it!

So... back to cookies... I filled them with raspberry jam... YUMMERS!! The great thing about all of our nut-and-butter cookies is that they'll work with any nuts, any flavorings... There's really just two basic recipes, but we can make a dozen different cookies with them!

THEN... because I had made a Cream of Broccoli Soup for dinner, but hadn't made dessert (man does not live by dinner alone - dessert is a MUST!!) I made a batch of the Lemon Coconut Cookies... These I did a bit different, too... (The early cookies are always about experimentation, to see if it's even possible to improve on perfection...) Tee-hee. I made them as thumbprints and filled them with Lemon Curd and then a few ribbons of toasted coconut. Way good!! We'll make them both ways this year! (I seem to be on a thumbprint kick this year.....)

I also made the Rolled Cut-Out Cookies, but made them as Chocolate Peppermint. Not sure how I'll finish these off. Maybe make a Chocolate Creme filling and sandwich them, or just do a chocolate dip... Hmm... maybe both!! And the Pecan Balls... and the Vanilla Almond, and my Mom's Christmas Spice Cookies...

Victor has the apricots soaking in apricot brandy for Aunt Emma's Apricot Cookies... I'm bummed, because out local grocery no longer carries lard. Damn!!! It's healthier than Crisco, fercrissakes!

It's a bit after 8pm, we're waiting to see if the storm of the century actually arrives at midnight as forecasted, and if it does, whether I make it to work tomorrow. If I do, then we have cookies to bake on Saturday - along with a few dozen more batches of dough. If I get to stay home, we'll bake tomorrow!

In any event, we have plenty to eat in the house, and the oil man filled up the tank today. We're set.


Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market

 

It's a great place to spend the day - and a lot of money - but the quality... oh...my...goodness... The quality is unbelievable. Fresh. Organic. Wonderful.

The Ferry Building opened in 1898 as the main departure/arrival point for the billions of ferries that plied the bay before the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges were built. In 1957, the Embarcadero Freeway went up in front of it, and sealed its fate for the next 42 years - until the 1989 earthquake. The freeway was supposed to circle the city and connect the bay and Golden Gate bridges, but when the folks saw what it had done to the waterfront, they said NFW! and it became a long offramp to Broadway Street. I have vague recollections of it being built. the plan was also to make 19th Avenue a freeway from the peninsula to the GG Bridge. (We lived on 19th Avenue at the time!) Anyway... The freeway came down, the Ferry Building went through a multi-million dollar renovation, and the Ferry Plaza Marketplace was born!

The shops are all high-end inside, with an organic farmer's market outside 4 days a week. Everything from Stonehouse Olive Oil (I LOVE their Blood Orange Olive Oil!!) to Caviar, and Cowgirl Creamery to Peets Coffe and other great foods. A fun side note.. I used to work for Tsar Nicholai! Well - I worked for California Sunshile Fine Foods - which is the umbrella company for all the different ventures. I was the shipping manager, shipping gourmet foods all over the world, as well as purchasing all of the specialty produce at the produce terminals in SF and at thr airport every morning at 4:00am. I also ate a LOT of really, really, really good caviar!!! It was a fun job!

But I digress - again...

The Farmer's Market itself is just plain awesome. There are scores of booths set up selling everything from Watermelon Radishes to Brussell's Sprouts still on their stalk. Every imaginable (and a few unimaginable!) fruit and vegetable all lovingly grown in Northern California.

It's a must-stop and must-see if you're ever in San Francisco!


Dungeness Crab

 

Start with 30 pounds of fresh Dungeness Crab, minutes off the boat (THANK YOU, NICK!!)  add fresh, hand-made ravioli from The Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market , add Family and Friends, and a good time is assured!

We flew to San Francisco over the weekend to visit my dad (I'm a San Francisco Native who moved east!) and my sister Eileen decided that since Crab Season just started, we should do a crab feed Saturday. Her best friend Renee's son Nick works down on the piers, and was able to score 30 pounds of fresh crab for us at a ridiculously low price. (It really helps to be a native San Franciscan!) It was a really quick trip - we flew in Friday morning and flew out Sunday morning. Not even enough time to get a proper jet-lag!

Victor and I headed down to the Ferry Building early Saturday morning (more on that later!!) to do a bit of shopping and see what we could find to compliment the feast, when we came upon a vendor selling fresh hand-made pastas. He had a dozen different varieties, and every one looked better than the last, but we decided on Arugula, Pear, and Goat Cheese Ravioli, Porcini Mushroom Ravioli, and 3 Cheese Tortellini. They were a great choice!

There's just nothing better than fresh crab slathered in butter and garlic (keep it simple!) along with crusty San Francisco Sourdough, and fresh pastas with a fresh sauce!  Victor - the resident Italian - made a fresh tomato sauce that complimented all the pastas.  His original plan was to make three sauces, but... one simple sauce sufficed quite nicely!

The crowd included Eileen and Mike and their son Sean, my brother Mike and Debbie, with their kids Bill and Katie, and Bill's friend Nick (another Nick!) my sister Judy, with her son Justin, and her daughter Jennifer, with 5 year old Tommy, Renee and Tim - parents of Nick our Crab provider) and last, but not least, my crab-hating father. We started eating early - and continued eating well into the night. Judy supplied a decadent Chocolate Cake for dessert, and a good time was had by all!

On a side note... Friday morning, upon arrival, we went up to the rental car counter to pick up our car. Chatting with the woman behind the counter, she handed me a map of the city. I laughed and handed it back, saying I was born and raised in the city. She immediately replied in thrue San Franciscan fashion "What School?" (All San Franciscans immediately ask 'what school' - meaning high school.) I said Lincoln, she said she went to Star of the Sea. Year? '69. She knew my ex-sister-in-law and all sorts of girls I know and knew! We talked about mutual friends, et al, as the line grew behind us. I miss San Francisco!