Coconut Cookies
I make these for Victor's mom. She loves coconut!
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups shredded coconut, chopped in processor
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 1 tsp coconut extract
- 2 cups minced shredded coconut for rolling cookies
Preheat oven to 350°.
Whisk together flour, coconut, baking powder, and salt.
Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla, and coconut extract. Add flour mixture and mix until just combined.
Using a 1 tbsp scoop, form into balls and roll in coconut.
Place on cookie sheets and bake for 14 minutes, rotating pans halfway through.
Makes about 4 dozen cookies.
2012 in Pictures
After 226 blog posts and 415 pictures, 2012 has come to a close.
This was most definitely a great year, from Mad Men Mondays to the gastronomic delights of Italy, it was a year of fun food.
Cranberry Tangerine Bread
Tim Dineen
A take on a basic Cranberry Orange bread.
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cubes butter, cut into pieces
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- 1 1/4 cups fresh tangerine juice
- 1/4 cup Cointreau
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups coarsely chopped fresh cranberries
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 350°.
In a food processor, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Place in mixing bowl. In a measuring cup whisk together the zest, the juice, Cointreau, and the eggs. Add the mixture to the flour mixture and stir the batter until it is just combined – don’t overmix. Stir in the cranberries and walnuts and spread evenly into two well-buttered 9×5 standard loaf pans.
Bake the bread in the middle of the oven for 1 1/4 hours, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool the bread about 15 minutes in the pan and then remove and cool completely on racks.
Serve plain or top with powdered sugar or icing glaze.
Pie Crust
Pie Dough
for a double crust:
- 2 1/3 cups flour
- 1/2 lb butter, frozen
- pinch salt
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 6 tbsp ice water
Using a food processor, add flour, salt, and sugar. Pulse to mix.
Chop up frozen butter and add. Pulse until butter is incorporated and mixture looks grainy.
Slowly add ice water. Pulse until mixed.
Turn out onto counter. Press and form mixture into 2 disks . Wrap in plastic and refrigerate about an hour to allow the flour to properly absorb the water and to relax the gluten.
Roll out crust and place in pie plate. Crimp edges and fill.
The Invisible Shopper
Happy Monday grocery shopping. Or, should I say "happy invisible grocery shopper"? I started my Monday grocery shopping just as I usually do - at the fairly new Wegmans King of Prussia, not far from the house. It's been open for about 5 months and I've been shopping there since they opened. And since they opened I've noticed a serious lack of recognition by the staff to their customers. No eye contact, no hello, no smile, no greetings... It's rather bizarre.
I walk up and down the aisles, running into employees everywhere, and they walk by me like I'm not there, I look up, glance at them, smile - and nothing. I'm invisible. There are a lot of employees in this store, too. It's not the lone person running around trying to do twelve things at once. There are a lot of employees. And at 8:30am, not a lot of customers. I stand out.
This has been the standard since I first walked in there. Many of the cashiers are nice, but the folks on the floor?!? Obviously too busy to recognize the person who's making their job possible. I'm not looking for conversation, their life story... A simple smile with eye contact while I'm walking down the aisle towards them would suffice.
So I think I may be limiting my shopping at Wegmans. I don't like being ignored.
Where I know I won't be shopping is at the Acme. A total train-wreck of a company. I shop for my mother-in-law on Monday, and, at 86, she's pretty set in her ways about things she wants or likes. Sadly, there are a few things she likes from Acme that I can't get anywhere else. And ofttimes they don't have them, either. For the past two weeks I was unable to get her Apple Strudel Bites at the store closest to her, so this morning, I decided I'd go the the store closest to me. They had the pastries, but they didn't have her cut fruit. When I asked, a very flustered gentleman let me know his work flow, what he does, the timing of everything, and that he wouldn't have the fresh-cut fruit out until after 11am. It wasn't quite 9:30am.
I left, went to the other Acme to also pick up her prescriptions, and they didn't have cut fruit in the size she wanted. Evidently, cutting fruit is a skill-set their employees at any location are incapable of mastering. Okay. To be fair, there is a very nice woman at that Acme who would stop everything to make me fruit bowls if there were none. She's really sweet and we always stop and chat for a moment when I'm in there. Naturally, she wasn't there, today.
So I guess it's back to PathMark. Not my favorite store since they re-branded from SuperFresh a few years ago, but, at least I'm not always ignored in the aisles. They have some very nice employees who are always helpful.
I will trade more products for customer service any day.
The Year In Pictures
I had created a slideshow of 2021 meals, but later updates to the site saw its demise. Oh, well...
We ate well in 2011 and hope to continue the tradition into 2012. I know that two weeks of 2012 will be fabulous when we eat our way through Italy. The things one must do...
Have fun and enjoy. We sure did!
Food For Thought
We had leftovers for dinner tonight.
I wasn't cooking - we went into Philadelphia today to lend our support for Occupy Philly.
I have to admit that food-wise, our leftovers are generally pretty good. They're definitely better than the leftovers we're getting from our current government.
Government-Bashing on a food blog?!? Well... Yes.
We have a Congress right now that wants to dismantle the government. That wants to dismantle every safety-net and social safeguard there is and that wants to allow our food to be poisoned, our air to be poisoned, and our water to be poisoned in the name of de-regulated corporate profit.
I'm not being hyperbolic about this - The EPA is under attack, USDA regulations are under attack. Food conglomerates and chemical manufacturers are fighting labeling regulations - they don't want you to know what's in your milk, tomato, chicken, ground beef, or breakfast cereal. The wealthiest of the wealthy are buying Senators and Representatives who, in turn, are doing their bidding.
Ever wonder about that label on milk or cheese that reads "No significant difference has been shown between milk derived from rbST-treated and non-rbST-treated cows.''?!? It was written by Michael R. Taylor, in 1994 who, as FDA Deputy Commissioner, shaped the agency’s policy on rBGH. Until the summer of 1991, he represented Monsanto and the International Food Biotechnology Council. Most recently he has been working as an FDA Deputy Commissioner For Foods. They continually fight efforts to allow companies to simply state that they DON'T treat their cows with rBGH. Just as with genetically modified foods or irradiated foods - they don't want us to know. They don't want us to be able to make a choice. They are passing laws to make it illegal to state that food is NOT tainted with chemicals.
There are listeria outbreaks, e coli outbreaks, salmonella outbreaks. Food-borne illnesses are rampant, but the cry is that our government is too big - too "Big Brother" trying to tell us what we can or can't eat. HELLO?!? If we want a clean food supply, we need MORE regulation, not less.
And the goal has been to keep us all too busy trying to keep a roof over our heads and make ends meet to pay attention.
And it has been succeeding.
Until now.
We bailed out Wall Street and not a single person went to jail for their illegal activities. They crippled our economy, our piddly retirement accounts went straight to hell, and they're making obscene bonuses and paying less in taxes than Victor and I did last year.
Teachers are under attack, civil servants are under attack. Unions are under attack.
My favorite quote is:
Do you Remember when teachers, public employees, Planned Parenthood, NPR and PBS crashed the stock market, wiped out half of our 401Ks, took trillions in TARP money, gave themselves billions in bonuses, and paid no taxes?
Yeah.. Me Neither.
And gays in the military?!? Guess what?!? I'm a Viet Nam Veteran. I was a Gay In The Military. And I'm married to a man. I can't begin to describe the hoops we have to jump through when April 15th rolls around, the legal crap we have to deal with after being together for 17 years.
Fed up?!? You bet I am.
And that is why I am supporting Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Philly, Occupy Wichita, Occupy Tulsa, Occupy Portland, Occupy San Francisco, and every other group out there.
We are "We, The People."
We Are The 99%.
It is past time for us to start paying attention.
Start reading labels. Stop buying crap food. Start asking questions. Start demanding answers.
Start Paying Attention.
We Are The 99%.
Adluh Flour
I've been having so much fun with our local Daisy flour that friends down in South Carolina decided it was time I tried their local flour - Adluh - grown in South Carolina and milled right in Columbia! They've been in operation since 1900 and the mill is the third-oldest continually-operating electrically-powered soft wheat mill in the United States!
And today, just as I was getting dinner together, the UPS man arrived at the door with a package - from Kay in South Carolina!
I'm actually speechless - which is pretty unusual for me! The box contained 8 different packages of totally unique products:
- Stone Ground Yellow Grits - a true stone ground product from South Carolina grown yellow corn.
- Stone Ground White Grits - a true stone ground product from white corn.
- Sweet Potato Mix - a complete "table-tested" mix that is easy to use requiring only water, milk or buttermilk to be added.
- Pancake/Waffle Mix - a "table-tested" blend of our patent flour and just the right amount of quality ingredients to make the best pancakes or waffles you've ever eaten. Just add water or milk.
- Cobbler Mix - a complete "table-tested" mix that is easy to use, requiring only water or milk to be added.
- Cornbread/Muffin Mix - a blend of prize-winning Adluh flour and corn meal products with just the right additives to create a multi-purpose mix.
- Yellow Flake Biscuit Mix - a complete biscuit mix blended from enriched soft wheat flour.
- Carolina Breader - a complete mix which is "table-tested" for a variety of uses. No additional spices or ingredients need to be added! It's used as a coating or breader for fish, seafood, chicken, pork chops, country-style steak, squash, okra and other vegetables.
This stuff is fresh! Every package has a stamped milling date. None of it is a week old! Each package had a recipe printed on the label - and Kay included pages of additional recipes to use with the various mixes.
I've always loved grits. Grits are Southern Polenta that can be served at any meal. These are a perfect grind - just coarse enough. I think I'll be saving these for winter when I'm really needing warm, stick-to-the-ribs comfort-food.
And Sweet Potato Mix. This one really has me thinking! From Sweet Potato Biscuits to Sweet Potato Apple Cobbler with Pecans, this mix has serious potential!
Pancake/Waffler Mix. I see a Sunday Breakfast in our very near future.
And I'm looking forward to the Cobbler Mix. When I make cobblers, I generally make a pie crust topping or a simple sweet drop biscuit. My Southern-Belle (as in Southern California) mother used to make a cobbler that had more of a thick batter topping. This looks like it may be more like that.
And I already know that the Cornbread Mix is going to be used for corn sticks! When Mike and his wife Barbara stayed with us a few years back on their way to NYC, they brought - among other things - a cast-iron corn stick pan that I've used many times. Yum!
I don't know what yellow flakes are. I may just make this one according to package instructions. I can't go wrong!
And, finally, Carolina Breader. I may just need to make a chicken-fried steak with sausage gravy. Back when we lived in San Francisco, we would go out to dinner at Lyon's with my parents now and again. I would invariably order the chicken-fried steak. I miss those meals. It would be fun to make.
So we have lots and lots of meals planned!
And when you have a moment, check out the Adluh Store website. They have LOTS of great products at extremely reasonable prices!
Thank you, Kay!
New York, New York
We did a spur-of-the-moment trip up to New York yesterday.
It was Pride weekend, and with the passage of same-sex marriage in New York a couple of days earlier, it promised to be a bit of a raucous celebration. We had to be a part of it.
We got into the city just in time for lunch - and experience parade-goers know one can never get raucous on an empty stomach - we headed to Eataly at 23rd and Broadway. It just happened to be right on the parade route.
Eataly, for the uninitiated, is a huge food emporium put together by Lidia Bastianich and Mario Batali. It's an unbelievable experience of food court, restaurants, and groceries. And it ain't cheap. (But to put it in perspective, at Penn Station on the way home we had an appetizer platter at TGI Fridays and two drinks that cost the same as our lunch. And the service was surly and there wasn't a pleasant employee in the place. The better deal - by far - was Eataly.)
We wandered the areas and settled on lunch at Le Verdure - the vegetarian eaterie.
I had peaches and portobello mushrooms with greens and balsamic vinegar. The peaches were perfect. The mushrooms meaty and flavorful. The balsamic wasn't the cheap stuff. The sweet, the bitter, the sharp tang... It worked perfectly.
Victor went for a caponatta. Roasted eggplant and roasted red peppers with pinenuts. It was stellar. Both of these will be replicated at home.
Our dining companion two tables over was one of the latest cooking stars, Curtis Stone. He just did an appearance on Good Morning America this morning. He's easy on the eyes...
Eataly is huge. There are breads, cheeses, meats, dried pastas, fresh pastas, fabulous-looking desserts...
Dried pastas range from about $2.69/lb to $6.99 and more. They looked great, but we didn't buy. We have a cabinet full of pastas right now. Maybe next trip.
But they did have a great variety of sizes and shapes. I had a lot of concepts and ideas running through my mind.
Fresh seafood. Lots and lots of fish.
And the cheeses. Oh.My.God. The cheeses.
There aren't enough hours in the day to consume the amount of cheeses I wanted to bring home. It was breathtaking. There's just no end to my love of cheese.
And then we found the bakery counter.
A score of different cakes and even more individual desserts. Calorie-laden gastronomic goodies. I was in heaven. Again.
Having been a baker, I just love the colors, textures, and flavors. I also know just how difficult it is to try and replicate things like this at home.
I wanted two of everything.
If we lived in new York, this would not be my daily grocery store. But I'd definitely be down here on a regular basis. It was a lot of fun. There were enough unique items at a reasonable-enough price to make it worthwhile. They also had ridiculously over-priced items, as well. Shop smart, as they say...
But our real reason for being up in the city was the Gay Pride Parade. It was time to head back outside.
New York is wall-to-wall people on any given day. Throw a parade into the mix and it really becomes crowded! Fifth Avenue was jammed solid with the most wonderfully-diverse people imaginable.
Just a wondeful, fun-loving crowd.
And I do mean crowd.
There were the scantily-clad disco-boys showing off their wares to bare-breasted ladies
and everything in-between.
It was really a celebration of people.
From all walks of life.
It really was diverse.
With both fun and somber messages.
Of course we had to pay homage to The Stonewall, where the modern gay rights movement started 42 years ago.
I've had more than a couple of cocktails there in the past and I do have to say the place was pretty much a dive, but I haven't been inside in 25 or so years. It may have changed a bit.
The neighborhood has changed, too.
It was a great time in a great city with great people. We had some really fun conversations with celebrants all over. The young guy in the subway station who started taking off his veil - until we convinced him it was a good look on him! The young girls on the subway, the guys across from the Stonewall. And our sweet waitress at Eataly who couldn't wait for her shift to be over at 4pm so she could join in the festivities.
I've always loved New York but have been a bit disillusioned recently because of just how much everything costs - from hotel rooms to theatre tickets to getting there in the first place.
But all of that was swept aside yesterday when I really saw New York at her finest.
I was proud to be a part of it...
New York, New York.
The Peditto Boys
We spent Father's Day today in Medford Lakes, New Jersey with The Cousins.
It was a family reunion with the Peditto Boys - the four sons of Victor's mom's older sister, Emma. Emma was the 4th of 11 kids and Victor's mom was 10th. A mere 11 years separated them.
It was the first time in years that all 4 brothers were in the same spot at the same time - and the first time I had met the youngest of the brothers - another Victor - and his family. It was great fun.
From canoeing
to swimming in the lake
to just shooting the breeze, there was plenty to do.
And in typical Italian Family Style, there was way too much food.
OMG was there food!
There were cheese trays and antipasti...
The cheeses were excellent - including a French Gourmandise with Kirsch that was really fun.
The antipasti had everything - from the typical prosciutto and salami and pepperoni to roasted eggplant wrapped around pecorino romano and soaked in balsamic vinegar. And cherry peppers stuffed with three cheeses. And roasted peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, marinated mushrooms, and every kind of olive imaginable. And breads. And crackers.
I could have just filled up on this.
Actually... I did fill up on this. And then I started some serious eating.
In this crock was Dom's Sausage and Peppers. There was so much flavor it was almo0st scary. I had two sausages and peppers on a sesame Italian roll and was in gastronomic heaven. They simmered for hours with the flavors intensifying with every minute. You just can't buy food like this at the store.
Kristi made a pulled pork that was stellar! (We brought some home!) She baked it low and slow for about 6 hours and the following day shredded it and added the sauce. It was tender. It was meaty. It was perfect in another Italian roll. She does a rub with Old Bay and brown sugar to start. Two things I'd never think to put together - but it's a rockin' combination, for sure. As I said - we brought some home with us!
And there were ribs finished with Blues Hog Kansas City BBQ Sauce. It was pretty good. Sweeter than I generally like but not bad.
Then there were the salads... Caesar, pasta, potato...I did mention there was a lot of food, didn't I?!?
I didn't always have a plate of food in front of me. Really. Sometimes I actually walked around and socialized. But it does seem as if I ate an inordinate amount of food over the course of 5 or 6 hours.
The company was so good, the food was so good. I went for it.
And then we started on desserts. Yes. Plural. Many plurals.
There were the fancy bakery desserts.
Apple pie...
Peach pie...
And my two favorites...
My first favorite was mascarpone and strawberries on a crust that was almost like a shortbread cookie. It was thick, flaky, and buttery with perfect body without being the least bit heavy. It was the perfect vehicle for getting the strawberries and mascarpone into my mouth. I loved every bite.
My other favorite was a trifle of sorts. Pound cake, strawberries, blueberries, vanilla custard, whipped cream... One of those desserts I could literally eat until I was sick. I went from indoors to outdoors and didn't check the camera settings, so the picture has a lovely blue tint that does not even begin to do justice to the fabulous dessert in the bowl.
It was good.
The whole day was good.
Pasta Paraphernalia
After years (and years) of rolling gnocchi off the tines of a fork, Victor went out and got a real, live gnocchi board. Just in time for Monday's Pasta Feast.
He's going to be making Malloreddus con Saliccia.
I can't wait.
Omaha Steaks
When in Rome, do as the Romans. When in Omaha, have a steak.
The cousins took us out to a steakhouse that's been around for 80 or so years - Piccolos's. On the south side of town down where the stockyards one dominated, it has transitioned from neighborhood bar to night club to a cavernous restaurant with some damned good steaks!
We headed off to the bar while awaiting the gang. Old-style drinks poured by people who know how to pour a drink.
Into the restaurant we went - a party of 20.
The steaks are all served with an iceberg salad and choice of sides.
I ordered the 20 oz T-bone for $21.00. Rare. Really rare.
It was one fine steak. The sides were a foil-wrapped baked potato and canned green beans, but ya know?!? I was here for the steak, not the side dishes. Besides, they were slightly fitting for the environment.
It was the perfect local haunt.